


Team FLWR: A RWBY OC story

by DeathandDespairQueen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Also team SNOW, Author's note in chapter 12, Beacon Academy, Canon Compliant, Canon characters possibly, Faunus Characters, Multi, My gay flower children featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse, Nonbinary Character, Odette of Team SNOW is an arctic fox, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, RWBY - Freeform, RWBY OCs, Tags Are Hard, Team Dynamics, Team FLWR, Team HSMN, Team ROSE, Team SNOW, Trans Female Character, i might include more of my oc teams, its lilac, lilac is a white rabbit faunus, me and my bff made these mistakes but now you have to deal with them, might get a little off track, starts off pre-canon, the first four chapters will be basically trailers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2018-07-28 07:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7630996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathandDespairQueen/pseuds/DeathandDespairQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at the lives of Team FLWR and their adventures at Beacon Academy! Join Freesia Unschuld, Lilac Fiducia, Wisteria Tuckington, and Rho Dodendron as they try their best to pass their classes and take on the world of Remnant!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Freesia's Trailer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angrygoomba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angrygoomba/gifts).



> So I'm not going to lie, this is entirely self indulgent. My friends and I have worked really hard on all of these characters and teams, and I wanted to bring them to life. I hope that you all learn to love these guys just as much as I do!

_“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others.”_  
_―[Virginia Woolf](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6765.Virginia_Woolf)_

* * *

 

Heavy grey clouds rolled over the dimly lit night skies, barely illuminating a small meadow. The soft sound of metal boots shuffling slowly through the soft grass echoed in the still air. A small blonde girl with bright orange flowers pinned in her twin buns spins around the clearing, humming the tune of the latest pop song. Her mind was occupied with handling her weapon; a fair sized battle axe combined with a basic sniper rifle. The little blonde was preoccupied with her "training" so much so that she didn't hear the soft shuffling of paws on grass coming closer. 

    A small pack of Ursa stalked closer and closer to the distracted human. An easy target, even with the weapon in her hands. The only armor she wore was positioned across her chest and shoulders with guards on her knees. A few good slashes on the exposed torso and she would make a nice meal. The largest Ursa raised it's clawed paw and aimed a powerful swipe at the girl. Instead of hitting soft flesh, the swipe caught nothing but empty air. The Ursa's confusion was cut short by a metal blade burying itself deep inside its skull.

   A gunshot echoed through the air and Freesia launched herself off the quickly disintegrating Grimm. "One down, two to go!" She pulled her weapon up and aimed the barrel at the remaining monsters. "Who's next?" As the Ursa lunged for her she swiftly aimed the barrel of her gun at the ground and fired as she jumped, launching herself into the air. Her feet touched down on the back of an Ursa which she used as a spring board. The monster let out a harsh roar. In the pale moonlight Freesia could see it's glowing red eyes grow wide and furious. How dare she cheat them out of an easy dinner?

   "You guys are awfully dumb, y'know that?" Freesia giggled. "But don't worry! That'll make it easier for me!" She rushed towards the monster, dropping to her knees and sliding under its massive paw. The blade of her axe dug into the earth and she let herself be yanked back like a rag doll. While still on her knees she shouldered the weapon and fired three shots, two missing and one nailing the slower Grimm in a soft spot near it's back leg. The bright striped pattern of her tights were stained with dirt and grass but she didn't care. Who knew a fight could be so much fun? 

    "Can't touch this!" She called gleefully, avoiding yet another attack. Her boots skidded across the grass. Her weapon would need to reloaded. She held out one small hand. "Stop!" She called to the monsters. Their razor riddled jaws snarled as she swiftly reached into a pack that hung on her hips and exchanged a full cartridge for the empty one. Just as quickly as she had reloaded she fired the first bullet, which hit its mark inside of the slower Ursa's cranium. "Hammer time!"A slight orange halo of light burst from the girl's pale skin. Her eyes shone with a renewed vigor.

    Freesia charged forward, the orange light surging and gathering around her clenched fist. Her punch was intended for the Grimm's head, but instead it snapped its massive jaw down on her arm. The creature reared up on its back legs and slammed itself and the young huntress down. Her weapon was flung from her hands by the force of the impact, leaving her seemingly defenseless and dazed. The Grimm took the oppurtunity of weakness to bring its massive paw down on her breastplate. Pinned. Though it's comrades had fallen it could still enjoy the bounty of the hunt. 

  Or so it thought. The huntress' aura had not yet drained, and she still had to release the energy that her semblance had accumulated. She cocked back her zrm and let loose a hard punch, this time hitting the mark exactly. The unsuspecting Ursa's leg was blown from its socket in seconds. It let out a pained roar as its now freed prey rolled to her weaponed and armed herself. "Hammer time!" She mumbled as she surged forward once more and carved deep slices into the exposed flesh of her enemy. One final twirl of the blades and she embedded them in the thick furry neck. A final gunshot rang out, taking off the final Grimm's head. 

* * *

 

   Freesia Unschuld adjusted her silver tinted armor and brushed the bits of damp grass from her butter yellow undershirt. "New record. That usually takes longer..." She shouldered her weapon and began her trek home as the moon began to sink below the horizon to be replaced by the early stages of dawn. "I guess I'm just getting better at this! I'll be ready for Beacon in no time!" 


	2. Lilac's Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilac Fiducia is more than just the little princess her parents expect her to be. She will do anything to prove that she can become a huntress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our inspiration for the trailer was clearly the White Trailer. I tried to keep from completely rehashing the idea, but it's still a bit iffy. ENJOY.

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”  
― [Mahatma Gandhi](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5810891.Mahatma_Gandhi)

* * *

 

   "Begin!" The little bunny Faunus' long snow white ears twitched. All around her doors were flung open, releasing half a dozen Boarbatusks into the arena. She held her staff closer to her chest like a shield as the boar Grimm pinballed around the arena in tight protective balls. She patted the small bag fastened to her hip. She could feel the judgmental eyes monitoring her every move. One slip up and her chances were gone for good. Lilac just couldn't risk that. 

   She waited for the perfect moment to jump above the commotion and jab her staff down onto one of the death balls. Unfortunately she had struck the beast's armor instead of the soft underbelly. She was flung into the nearest wall, yet was able to quickly recover. She gave the midsection of her staff a quick clockwise twist. The stones imbedded in the lower half of her staff glowed to life with a light happy green. She spun on her toes, the wind dust in her staff sending out a large gust of wind that knocked the Boarbatusks off balance. With two counter clockwise twists the light switched to the upper half and became an electric yellow. Lilac charged an overturned Grimm and jabbed the staff into it's belly. The dust sent a large shockwave through the Grimm's body, killing it instantly.

   Lilac's lavender eyes darted around nervously searching for the next opening. One Boarbatusk had stopped spinning momentarily and was sizing her up. It's massive tusks were nearly as thick around as she was and it was awfully close to her. If it chose this moment to transform and roll out there was a slim chance that she would be able to avoid a full on hit, even slimmer to get out of there completely unscathed. She held her staff out, electricity still coursing through the end that the monster was charging for. As fate would have it, the creature had not gone into it's protective form before the staff met unprotected skin and sent the volts coursing through it.

    Another one down, 4 to go.

    The remaining Boarbatusks had ceased their reckless rolling about and were facing her. Lucky for her, she hadn't taken any serious hits and could still conjure up enough aura to activate her semblance. Her petite tanned fingers dipped into her bag, and she retrieved a small green crystal. She crushed it into a fine powder and began to spin, releasing the powder slowly and creating a small cyclone. Using her staff as leverage to pole vault herself over the dazed Grimm and landed safely just out of their line of vision. She channeled her energy and strength into her concentration. She had to work fast and hard to pull this off properly.

   Once the dust cleared the Grimm all searched for their prey. Where could the Faunus girl have gone? With long white hair and matching ears, one would think they would be able to rout her out and destroy her within seconds. But alas the young girl seemed to have disappeared from right under their massive snouts. One massive creature perked its ears up. If it listened intently, it could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps attempting to be quiet as they moved across the concrete floor of the homemade arena. 

   The creature snorted and squealed, alerting the remaining three only seconds too late. Another monster squealed with pain and fell dead. It's body began to disintegrate nearly immediately following its demise. A quiet yet clearly impressed whisper swept through the small crowd of observers. Lilac felt her heart swell. In this moment of pride her concentration released. Her snow white ears slowly faded back into the plane of visibility. The closest Boarbatusk noticed first, slamming its tusks in the direction. 

  While Lilac's semblance made her seem invisible to the world around her, it did not in fact make her physical form vanish. The feeling of tusks colliding with her midsection robbed her of her concentration and sent her flying across the arena. She hit the far while with a pained grunt. "Stop the trial! Shut it down and get her out of there." Her large ears twitched at the sound of her father's voice ordering for the end. Her only chance to be free was slipping through her fingers. She couldn't let that happen!

   Though her knees were shaking terribly and she could taste the metallic tang on blood on her lips she stood and tightened her grip on her staff. She surges forward, dragging one end of the staff along the ground as she charged. The smallest Boarbatusk didn't notice her in time to avoid her attack or ball up and charge right back. She swept her staff underneath its hoofed feet and knocked it off balance. Once it was off guard she used her staff to prod it onto it's back and jumped onto its belly. The remaining two balled up and rolled towards her. Right before they struck she jumped out of the path of destruction. The fallen Grimm was not as fortunate.

   Two left. She doubted she could pull off a stunt like her previous move. Lilac waited for one of the monsters to charge, easily side stepping as it crashed into the wall. While it stood dazed she hurried to slide underneath it. She reached into her bag once more and fished out the sharpest crystal she could find; a chunk of lightning crystal. The Faunus girl thrust the crystal into the underbelly and rolled out as the creature let out a pained squeal. 

   A plan was already forming in her head as she jumped to her feet and faced her final foe. Just as she was about to put her brilliant plan into motion, the Grimm let out a pained shriek. It fell dead at her feet and began to disintegrate. Three of her parent's personal guards marched towards her. "Miss Fiducia, you heard your Father. The test was over." One guard took her hand, but she wrenched it away. 

   "No! I could have done it! I could have proved myself! Please, you can't let him do this!" Tears welled up in her eyes. This wasn't right. She had beaten five out of six and she would have gotten all of them if it weren't for her Father's intervention. Her hands tightened around her staff. She had almost done it. She was almost a free woman. "Miss Fiducia, please understand. Your Father stopped the trial-"

   "Yes. I am aware."  
   

"Because you passed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dabs into the sunset*


	3. Wisteria's Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deep in the forest sits a little cottage. In this little cottage lives a little family. Wisteria Tuckington would do anything to protect them from the cruel outside world. Even if that means leaving them behind to fill the shoes her parents left for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next two chapters I've had planned for a while so they'll come out much quicker than the other two. I worked on Freesia's for probably a month before I finished it. Sorry this took so long to finish. I got kind of depressed for a while and it really affected my motivation to even get up and write. But after some help with how this chapter should flow I think I'm back on my feet

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”   
― [Shannon L. Alder](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1391130.Shannon_L_Alder)

* * *

 

   The sun was shining through the breaks in the dense treetops, creating little spots of light on the forest floor. A little boy sat in a small patch of sun in front of a quaint little cottage. He held a little doll in his hands, playing carelessly in the warm sunlight. Perfect prey for the wandering King Taijitu slithering in the brush. The white head of the snake Grimm flicked it's forked tongue at it's other half. Easy prey. The Grimm circled the boy, moving in wide arcs as to not tip off the boy to the potential danger. Without another second more of hesitation the creature lunged forward through the brush, jaws wide open for it's latest meal.

    If only it were that easy. Before the black head could snap it's jaws shut on the tiny morsel something thin yet sharp dug into the soft flesh under the lower jaw. "Warren, get inside!" Standing between the King Taijitu and it's next meal was a teenage girl with long magenta hair that tumbled down to her mid back that contrasted beautifully against her light brown skin. She was tall and lanky, her height accented by her knee high stiletto boots. A gun metal grey skirt hung just above her knees with pointed pleats lining the hem.

    The original prey rushed back towards the tiny cottage as fast as it could with it's single crutch. The new human seemed tougher, sure, but she was still unarmed. The girl lunged at the black head, executing a front flip and landing gracefully on the rough armor that decorated it's skull. Her eyes narrowed as she calculated the possible openings. Suddenly she raced forward, slapping a hand across the dull blue gem-like button hanging on her hip secured by four thick white straps. A few whirs and clicks later and her skirt began to spin slowly at first, but picked up speed as Wisteria slid from one end of the Grimm to the other.

   She dug her heel between the thick white scales, flipping head over heels towards the ground. As if in slow motion, the pointed pleats slid from their sheaths within the folds of her skirt. The spinning blades scraped against the skin and the white head let out a pained snake noise. Wisteria landed a handspring into the soft grass beneath the beast and quickly rolled out of range. Even she knew that destroying just one head wouldn't be enough. The white head was weak, but the black one had taken no hits. Yet. In one fluid motion she raced at the black half once more, using her semblance to manipulate the flow of the air. Her skirt billowed out to a near perfect circle, creating a giant, mobile saw blade literally attached to her hips. 

   A few strikes slammed the long thick neck of the black half, dazing it momentarily. Her ears perked up at the faint sound of slithering behind her. Nimble fingers danced across her belt once more, causing another yet entirely different hiss as three of the blades shot from her skirt and impaled themselves in the soft flesh of the white half's neck and head. The billowing of her skirt began to die out, the flowing material relaxing and fluttering back to it's original position. With blades still spinning she jammed the heel of her boot into the now dead flesh of the white half and yanked out two of the blades. The black head had recovered and was more than ready to take her on. 

   Wisteria barely managed to dodge the first strike of it's venomous fangs. She felt a few strands of hair get tugged from her scalp. That had been far to close for comfort. She should focus on ending this soon. The magenta haired girl wielded a blade in each hand, crossing her forearms over each other in an 'X' formation. The King's fangs scraped against the white sleeves that stretched from her wrists to her elbows. Oddly enough, they didn't pierce fabric or skin, but instead creating a metallic clang. A smirk stretched across her black painted lips. Not today, Satan. Not today. 

   She swung her right arm in a wide arc, doubling back with a diagonal slash across the neck. With her left she plunged the blade shallowly into a soft spot. She took a few large steps away from the Grimm and then rushed it, taking a running leap. Despite her heels and the narrow platform, she landed nearly perfectly on the blade. Now with both hands on her blade she plunged it into the flesh and pulled it out repeatedly. One more blow. That's all she needed. Wisteria shoved the blade in once more, leaving it in and using it as she had used the last one. She summoned all of the energy still left in her aura and channelled the wind up her skirt once more. 

   The blades spun like a saw gone mad, striking the same patch of flesh over and over until finally _THUD!_

   The black head fell to the ground, disintegrating upon impact. Wisteria wiped the sweat from her dark brow and pried her blades from the corpse. Her fingers tapped the button and the spinning began to move in slower and slower reps before finally stopping completely. She gently sheathed the blades and brushed any remaining debris from her ensemble. 

   "Wisteria! Wisteria, sweetheart!" An older gentleman with greying hair and numerous scars threw open the cottage door. He hobbled out into the yard, followed by his husband and their grandson. A smile crept onto Wisteria's lips. She trotted to her family, meeting them half way. "Grandpa Wash, did you see me fight? I won!" The old man took her hands in his own and smiled right back. There was a slight tug on her skirt. Warren peered up at her with wide eyes. 

   "I went inside, just like you told me!" He said with a slight lisp from his missing front teeth. His prosthetic leg had clearly been put on in a hurry so he could maneuver the house and yard without the use of his crutch. "I went and I told Papa Tucker! He wanted to come out and help you! But Grandpa Wash told him 'don't even think about distracting her by burstin' out there you old fu-"

   "Alright Warren," Papa Tucker cut in, "we don't need the play-by-play." The old black man turned to his granddaughter and gently cupped her face in his palms. "Wisteria, you nailed it." The girl's dark eyes shone with pride. Tucker took a deep breath. "Your Grandpa and I have been talking.... and we've made up our minds. We want to enroll you at the same school we went to; the same school your father graduated from." The pride her eyes turned to shock and disbelief. "Y-You really mean..."

   "We want you to train to become a hunter. Baby, you have so much skill. We think you could be just like your father." There was a long pause as the news sank in. Wash reached out to his granddaughter once more. "Wisteria, I know it's a tough choice. And we'd understand if you didn't want to go to Beacon, or to any academy. It's your choice." 

   Wisteria glanced at her little family. First at Papa Tucker, then at Grandpa Wash. Both of them held caution in their breath, forming a plan for the next steps of their lives, whether she agreed or not. Then she looked down at Warren. He looked back at her with eyes that matched her own. Full of wonder and curiosity. He wouldn't be completely defenseless if she left. Would he? It's not like he would be alone, but..... 

  Wisteria took a deep breath. She had made up her mind.

  "I'll do it. I'll go to Beacon." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao this took forever. Pick a point where you think I stopped writing for like a month and you're probably right. I'll have the next and final trailer up eventually, and then the first chapter of their adventure after that. IF YOU HAVE ANY OCS THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO MAKE A CAMEO IN THE STORY MESSAGE ME MY GUY I LOVE OCS


	4. Rho's Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's never easy to pick up where someone has left off. But that's exactly what Rho Dodendron intends to do; He wants to take down the White Fang from the inside, just like his sister. But he and his sister are different in many many ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like angst

“My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving her because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is.”   
― [Jandy Nelson](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2982266.Jandy_Nelson), [The Sky Is Everywhere](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6798696)

* * *

 

 

    Far beneath the surface of a now abandoned city weaved an intricate network of tunnels. The walls of the caverns were decorated with the clearly recognizable symbol; The White Fang's insignia. In the wee hours of the morning, the tunnels are completely void of life. This morning was drastically different from most mornings. The tunnels were filled with the sounds of angered shouts and wheels skating across the concrete floors. A young lanky boy decked out in a punk-like ensemble zipped through the underground network on a larger than average longboard. His hot pink eyes flicked behind him. He had finally managed to lose the hoard of White Fang members, but he could still hear their faint yells for his head on a platter behind him. 

   One of his hands tugged his light pink vest closer to his chest, glass vials clinking together. The other hand adjusted his thick glasses as he glanced back once more. If he could only remember how he had gotten all the way down to the storage room he could get himself back to the surface. "STOP THAT HUMAN! STOP HIM RIGHT NOW!" Rho's heart began to beat faster and faster as he skated. He had knocked out a few of the weaker lackeys before making his daring escape. That might have been what had drawn the attention of the other members. Rho was never known for being "discreet" or "careful". Rose was much better at this than he was.

   Rho used his free hand to push his curly hair from his eyes. The glass vials clinked against each other within his vest again. He hoped they wouldn't break. God, what would even happen to him if a bunch of raw dust got on to him? Would he explode? Or literally freeze? There was some wind dust in there, maybe it would cause a tornado that would slam him into the roof of the tunnels? In his moment of distraction, Rho didn't notice the arm shoot out of another tunnel and into his path, clotheslining him.

   He could feel his board continue to move on without him. He could see a few of the vials fly from their secure home inside his vest and into the air. They seemed to hover in the air above him for a moment before they all came crashing down to the cement floor. Rho groaned. How inconvenient. He squeezed his eyes shut to regain his bearings. When he opened them, all he saw was the barrel of a gun pointed in his face. "Get up." A voice demanded. Rho hesitated. "I said get up!" A gloved hand yanked him into a sitting position. A masked member with prominent fox ears aimed the gun at his head. "You'll pay for this, human! For breaking in and for damaging supplies!" She turned her focus from him and yelled down the tunnel for reinforcements. Rho took this oppurtunity and scrambled for his board. 

   "Now the- HEY!" Rho quickly pushed himself to his feet, board in hand. With one wide swing he caught the side of her head with the top of his board. The White Fang member grunted in pain, stumbling a bit. Rho could hear the rushed steps of reinforcements approaching. He didn't have any chance for a head start, and little to no chance of outrunning them. Guess he would just have to stay and fight. He pulled his vest away from his body. Only five vials left. "Damn, I had much more than that..." At least the White Fang didn't have them either. He grabbed a vial filled with bright red dust. This would work.

   Rho adjusted his footing before shouldering his long board. Parts began to unfold and latch together, hidden compartments coming open. Soon instead of a long board he held a good sized grenade launcher in his hands. He yanked the cork out with his teeth and poured the dust into an open cartridge. The footsteps were closer now, and he could make out distinct voices calling for his head on a platter.  _Come and get it, cowards._

    There was about 10 of them. White Fang members with all sorts of Faunus features brandishing swords and guns.  _What would Rose do?_  He found himself thinking. No... it didn't matter what Rose would have done. Rose wasn't... Rose wasn't here. This wasn't Rose's fight. Not anymore. It was his. Rho aimed for the center of the crowd, launching a fire-infused grenade at it. It exploded on impact, sending a good number of them flying. A few were knocked out, but another 3 rose to their feet and charged at him. He ducked out of the way of a double edged sword, feeling the wielder's foot colliding with his side. 

   The force of the kick knocked him back about a foot. Before he had a chance to recover he was struck across the face once, twice, and then once again in the chest. The attacker continued to hit him in the chest over and over again, until they slowly stopped. "Why-" Rho took the opening the attacker had given him and slammed the barrel of his weapon into their chest, firing a round into them. The shot sent them flying backwards, slamming them into where the tunnel curved far past the rest of their group. "Might as well save your energy. Hits just don't do it for me." He quipped playfully. "Can't feel a thing!" 

   Two more cocked their guns and fired at him. He blocked them and aimed once more and fired another shot. This one ricochetted off the tunnel wall, catching one member in the ribs. 4 left now. Two with swords, one with a gun, and one with a club. The one with the gun smirked. "Hey, wait a second. That hair, those eyes. And that symbol! We've seen it before! You're with them! You're with the two who broke in here before!" Rho's heart sunk. Of course they wouldn't forget. Rose and her partner had raised Hell in the quarters last time she had been here. The last time....

   The cat faunus ran forward and bashed his club across Rho's face. The sheer surprise of the hit was what had knocked him off center. He had to get his mind off of Rose. This isn't what she would have done. She would have.... she would have....

    She wouldn't have done this. Rho shoved the assailant away from him and pulled out another bottle; this time the dust inside was green. He threw the fragile glass bottle to the ground, creating a small tornado within the tunnel. The remaining members began to back away from the impromptu twister coming straight for them. This gave Rho time to transform his launcher back into it's original longboard form and threw it down to the ground. When the dust finally cleared, Rho was skating down the tunnels once more. 

   Faster and faster, faster than he had ever skated before. He skated until he could no longer hear the roaring wind or the frightened yells that slowly faded back into anger. He was beginning to recognize the certain tiny details that made the nearly identical tunnels different. He had been here before. He was close to the entrance. He rolled to a stop and turned left down the tunnel that would lead to his freedom. Before he escaped the underground nightmare this raid had turned into, he pulled his vest out one last time. He had one final vial of ice dust. His breath caught in his throat. 

   The White Fang members charged the exit, fueled by their rage. At the mouth of the tunnel they skidded to a stop. There stood the intruder, grenade launcher pointed in their direction. The kid fired one, two, three, and more and more shots until suddenly the mouth of the tunnel was sealed off entirely by thick ice. Through the white-blue distorted screen they could see him retransform his board and skate away. The symbol printed on the back of his vest seemed to mock them. 

* * *

 

 

   Rho Dodendron returned home well past noon. He passed through the living room like a phantom, ignoring his parents' frantic questions of where he had been. He bypassed the kitchen, bathroom, and even his own bedroom. He walked all the way to the end of the hall and gently pushed open a door that creaked as it hadn't been opened in ages. "Rose...." He whispered as he entered. Tears began to prick the edges of his eyes. "Rose I did it. I got out." His fingertips brushed against the framed picture of his sister that rested on her pillow. Her old jacket was laid out on the chair next to her desk. He let out a tearful chuckle. "I wish I had done more damage. I wish I had made them pay."

   Rose's smiling face beamed up at him, her youth frozen in time. Just out of frame Rho knew the rest of her team stood just has happy. "I wish I could have avenged you." 

  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm never writing again bye 
> 
> In all honesty I have an Achievement Hunter/Until Dawn fic planned. Whether I get the next chapter of this or the first chapter of that up first is honestly all up to fate.


	5. The First Days| Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The airship provides a beautiful view of the kingdom, and our main characters are glad to finally be where their hearts were telling them to go. But for some, the ride does not remain beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS CHAPTER WILL CONTAIN MILD RACISM AGAINST FAUNUS AND PERHAPS SOME MILD TRANSPHOBIA. IF THIS CONTENT TRIGGERS YOU OR MAKES YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, I ADVISE YOU SKIP TO THE LINE BREAK TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF THE CHAPTER.
> 
> Anyways. This chapter would have been up a lot sooner but my window reloaded on me and I lost nearly everything and kind of lost motivation as well. Plus I've been kind of dedicating my attention to "What happens on the mountain" which got a LOT more attention than I thought.

   Freesia couldn’t believe she was here. The view from the airship’s large window was breathtaking. Of course the sound of vomiting in the background sort of ruined it. She turned her attention away from window to survey the scene inside of the ship. There were tons of kids of all ages scattered around the area. 

   One girl in a red hood socialized with a busty blonde girl. Other, older looking students had grouped together, and she could only assume they were falling into their teams from previous semesters. It amazed her, how these random strangers had been grouped together somehow but they had all developed such strong bonds with each other. She wanted her team to be like that to. Whoever they could be. 

   Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something. A girl with cute white ears that dangled in front of her wide violet eyes. She seemed uncomfortable, like she wanted to disappear into thin air at this moment. Her whole aura gave off a timid, princess-like feel. Her outfit was composed of lace and pastel hues of purples, pinks, and even greens and white. Freesia wanted to talk to her. 

   The little blonde rose to her feet, straightening out her armor. She prepared to strut over to her and strike up a conversation when three boys approached the girls with wide smiles on their faces. Oh. Maybe they were her friends? Freesia stopped in her tracks.  “Heeeey, Miss Fiducia~” One of the boys crooned. He leaned down to look the Faunus girl in the eyes. His leering smirk was starting to make Freesia uneasy. " _Did he say....Fiducia?_ " Freesia felt as if she had heard that name before. But she couldn't quite place it.

   "I, uh... Yes that's me." She chirped. She tugged her pastel green cape closer to her body. "Rich girl, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at your fancy mansion with a private tutor?" One of the boys plopped into the seat next to her and slung an arm around her. "Better yet, shouldn't you be, I dunno, doing anything else other than this? You can do anything. Why would you want to be a hunter?" The girl made a move to distance herself from the boy. Her lips quirked unhappily. He simply moved closer once more. Miss Fiducia opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off again. 

   "You know, it just doesn't seem fair. That a lying Faunus like you could literally do anything with your life and your money. But instead you want to take jobs from people who have next to nothing. Sure being a hunter doesn't pay well but it's something." 

"I-"

"And another thing! No one has ever really seen 'Lilac Fiducia'. All we know is that she's a rabbit Faunus. And we all know how much rabbits like to breed. A white rabbit can't be all that rare." He was starting to rise to his full height now, looking down on the girl menacingly. "Yeah," another henchman chimed in, "You didn't even try to look like a girl. Are we sure that this isn't just a bad wig and some fake transcripts?" Freesia could feel her blood boiling. The words that they dared to lob at that poor girl. She wondered if they even knew how much it was hurting her. They had to, if they could see her make up smudging with the tears that ran down her cheeks and her gloved fists clenched tightly as she tried to remain composed.

   That was it. Before she could stop herself, Freesia was launching through the air, nailing the leader in the head with a rough kick. Without a moment of hesitation, she threw a hard punch into the gut of another boy, finishing off the final goon with a knee to the crotch. The faunus girl flinched, probably believing she was next in line for the senseless rage. Freesia held out her hand slowly, an offering of peace.

   "I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise." Her teary eyes blinked a few times as if she couldn't believe this. "I-Thank you." She took her hand gingerly.  With the other hand she wiped her eyes and a small smile found its way to her lips. “You know, if I wasn’t so scared of them….I could have taken them out like the garbage they are.” 

   Freesia was shook.

* * *

Wisteria had never seen a view this wonderful before. High above the tree line, the clouds she and Warren had spent countless days watching in the clearing in front of their home seemed so different from up here. She clutched the camera that Grandpa Wash had given her before her departure tightly, holding it to her eyes. She had to find the perfect angle, the perfect shot to send them in her letters that both her grandfathers had begged her to write. 

   Even when she was little, everyone told her she had an artist’s eye. Papa Tucker often joked that she should give that poor artist his eye back. She had finally gotten the perfect shot when the ship gave a slight jolt. She wobbled in her heels. “Now arriving at Beacon Academy.” a calm voice announced through the P.A system. “Please collect your personal belongings and prepare to depart.”

   Wisteria’s heart fluttered in her chest. Butterflies were beginning to flutter in her stomach once more. Through the window she could see the looming tower jutting even higher than the airship. She recalled the stories that both her parents and grandfathers had told her about that tower. How much trouble it usually meant if they were called in there. The thought made her chuckle as she collected her bag and made her way to the boarding area. Her lips were stretched into a permanent smile, a bright light of anticipation shining in her eyes. There were countless teens crowding together in the boarding area by the time she got there. It was quite a sight. Everyone was so unique, but they still seemed to fit together at the same time. Like pieces of a puzzle. This would make for a perfect picture.

   She held the camera to her eye, adjusting the picture. No good, she’d have to get closer. In hindsight, she should have watched where she was going. She felt the collision before anything else. Wisteria had walked right into two other girls, one blonde and short and wearing sort of shabby armor. The other was wearing the fluffiest, frilliest white skirt she had ever seen. It was paired with a lavender vest and a pastel mint green cape that reached her mid arm. And, more noticeable, fuzzy white bunny ears. A faunus! She had never actually seen a faunus before.

   "O-Oh! Excuse me!" She couldn't take her eyes off of the ears. They were so big and eye catching. She opened her mouth and before she could think she was speaking. "Do all faunus features look like this?" The blonde's eyes narrowed and her jaw steeled. She straightened out her arm guards and took a step forward. The bunny faunus held a gloved hand to her friend's chest plate. "I can handle this one. I'm not scared." Uh oh. Was that something she wasn't supposed to say? She had insulted the first person she had run into. Great going.

   "L-Listen, I'm really really sorry! I, uh, I'm from a small village. Actually I'm from a clearing in the woods a few miles outside of a small village. I've," she laughed nervously, "I've never met a faunus before. Again, I'm so sorry." The girl chuckled. Wisteria could feel herself flushing. "Oh, I understand." The girl's voice was calm, but her eyes were dark. "But, you know, that's not really just something you should say. Ever. At all." 

"I am really so sorry. I-" The girl held up a gloved hand. "It's fine. Just remember it for next time." Her hand moved down into a polite handshake position. "I'm Lilac," she stated with a toss of her hair, "Lilac Fiducia. This is my friend, Freesia Unschuld." The blonde cracked a sinister smile. "You already know why we're here. I would love to spend more time with you, learn what brought you out of your small village. Besides, all teams need four members, or so I've heard." She giggled. "Perhaps we've just found our third."

 


	6. The First Days| Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rho finally arrives at Beacon, bringing all of his emotional baggage along with him. Will he manage to make a connection with another student, or will he remain a cold, angsty shell?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love rho and all his horrible teenage boy angst  
> and yes i did have to look up an insane amount of skateboard tricks/terms to write this

   Rho hated the ride there. The weight of his parents' disapproving words as he boarded the vessel stuck with him, nestling in his stomach like a weight.  _Why bother going? You won't be as good as she was. You'd be better off staying at the shop._ He wondered if they had been this harsh with Rose. He had only been 9 when she left for the academy, and the visits they paid her during tournaments and festivals had always seemed happy. Instead of conversing with old friends or trying to make new ones, he sat alone, rolling his board back and forth on the floor.

   He knew how the school system worked. He would be put into a team with three other hunters-in-training and he would spend his remaining years training with them. Once that was over, he would split off from them and continue Rose's work. No matter how much his parents begged him to stay. If he was lucky, he might be able to pull Olea and Sang out of retirement to join him. He had considered asking Emmers, but he knew that no matter what the man would remain in hiding. When the airship reached its destination, he was the last one to depart. 

   The school was quite a sight. It was one of the tallest structures he had ever laid eyes on, and the bridge leading to it seemed like the perfect place to practice his stunts. In fact, he was going to do so right now. He mounted his board and pushed off, gliding across the long elevated bridge. Other kids would dramatically step out of his path, but he knew he wasn't going to hit any of them. If he was just walking, sure. But he wasn't. What he was doing felt like he was flying. With every kickflip, ollie, and shuvit he felt more free than ever. Nothing could stop him now. 

   Except for that.

   A girl with flawless dark skin and cascading purple hair had paused, leaning over the side of the bridge with a camera in her hands. Behind her was a solid block of students. There was no path around her. The only way past was to go over, and she was so tall he didn't think he would make it without hitting her. Which left only one option. He placed his foot on the ground, using it as an anchor to stop his momentum, and slipped off his board and into the ground face first. Rho skidded to a stop only inches from the toe of her white and gold boots. "Holy crap!" She cried as she backed away a bit. "Oh, are you alright?!" She grabbed him by his vest and hauled him to his feet, cupping his face in her hands and turning it from side to side as she inspected it. "That must have hurt like crazy!"

   "Actually," Rho said, his voice a bit muffled since the girl was squishing his cheeks harshly, "it didn't hurt at all." He placed his hands on hers and removed them. "My semblance keeps it from hurting. But it's a real pain in the ass." The other people continued to move around them. The girl was taller than him, probably about his height without the heels. Rho put on a tight smile, trying to avoid direct eye contact. She seemed genuinely pleased with the fact that he hadn't been hurt. She seemed like a good friend. He didn't need a friend. 

    "So, yeah. Uh...." My God, how was he this awkward when he tried to speak? "Yeah." He grabbed his board and began moving back into the crowd. "Wait! I, uh, my name's Wisteria!" She hollered. Rho paused. He turned to face her. Her eyes seemed sad that he was leaving. Like the whole reason she wanted to train at Beacon was to make friends. Didn't she know anything? But he had to respond. It would eat at him if he didn't. Make him feel bad. "Rho. Rho Dodendron." Wisteria's features lit up with a bright smile. With that he turned away and mounted his board once more. There. Situation handled. But despite his angsty protests, he felt a small hope that he would see her again.

* * *

   "Wow! The ceiling is sooooo high!" Freesia's excited proclamation echoed through what would eventually be the mess hall. For tonight, it was where all the new students would sleep until they were assigned rooms and teams after tomorrow's test. The day had been long and taxing. They had toured the massive grounds, and placed their belongings in lockers that could be launched like rockets to certain locations using both their Scrolls and a keypad on the locker. They had even a met a few of the... eccentric professors. Like Dr. Oobleck and the oh so fascinating Professor Port. After such a long day, it was a wonder as to how Freesia still had some energy left in her. 

   Lilac smiled at her new friend, but it felt forced. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in her sleeping bag and drift off into a well-deserved slumber. But the blonde continued to rave about her surroundings. Of course, the sight was nothing new for Lilac. Her own dining room had been built with similar architecture, yet somehow this seemed more refined. Fancier. More detailed. The school's emblem was carved into the high wall just above the entrance; two axes crossing each other with the words "BEACON ACADEMY" in a simple, bold font. Even the polished floors seemed to reflect an air of elegance. If this wasn't a training academy for teens with deadly weapons designed for fatal combat, it would make a beautiful museum or something.

   "Lilac, we have to come up with a plan!" Freesia took a running leap into her pile of pillows and blankets. Her voice was finally quiet, like the plan they were formulating would bring forth doom and destruction if spoken any louder. "A plan for us to become teammates! And that Wisteria girl, since you seem to like her for whatever reason." Lilac struggled not to giggle. Freesia had expressed a mild dislike for Wisteria's ignorance, but Lilac knew it wasn't malicious. Some people were cruel and cold, some didn't know any better. She figured if she could educate one clueless person, the cruelty might decrease over time. It was a silly hope, but it was one she held onto.

   "Yes. I wonder how they will organize teams? Maybe they look for people with weapons that would work well with each other? Or perhaps semblances? What is your weapon?"

   "An ax gun! It's a battle ax that melds into a high powered sniper rifle towards the end of the hilt. The barrel is positioned between the blades! What about you?" A simple weapon. Despite it's simplicity, it fit the fireball's personality perfectly. "I have a staff, actually. It's a few inches taller than me when I wear my boots. Each side has dust crystals embedded in the wood, with a mechanism in the middle that I twist to activate the dust. Clockwise for wind, counter for lighting. If I twist either way twice in a row it will activate both. I also have a small waist bag filled with crystals of various sizes."

   Freesia's orange orbs seemed to glow like jack-o-lanterns. "Your weapon is _perfect_ for defensive combat! We'd be perfect together! Now we just have to find that girl and ask he-"

   "Ask me what?" Freesia jolted in surprise, letting out a little squawk. Wisteria stood behind her in simple pajamas. Her makeup had been removed, yet she still looked absolutely gorgeous. Lilac gave a tiny wave and Wisteria settled down next to her. "We're talking about our weapons. We think they might have something to do with how they arrange teams." Wisteria nodded. "And you wanted to ask what mine is?" It was the other two girls' turn to nod. "Well, mine is a bit hard to describe. I might have gone a bit overboard when I designed it..." The two girls leaned closer. A blush spread across her cheeks. 

   "We-well. It's actually in my skirt. It's about the same length as a midi skirt with triangular pleats at the bottom. But they aren't pleats, they're long metal blades. On the belt there are a few buttons that make the outer layer of the skirt spin, which pushes the blades out where they lock into place. Another button can disarm the locks and I can either use them like swords or fire them like projectiles. There's another, skin tight mini skort on the inner layer so I won't end up flashing anyone while I fight. My heels are also pretty sharp which can give me good footing, believe it or not."

   The other two were silent. They were processing the surplus of new information about their acquaintance and her surprisingly complex weapon. "It's not also a gun, is it?" Freesia joked. But Wisteria's face formed a quizzical look, as if she couldn't quite recall whether or not she had included such a function. "I suppose I could integrate one into the design for long distance-"

   "No no no! The weapon design and aesthetic you have now is just fine!" Lilac interjected. Wisteria's weapon seemed like the perfect mix between offensive and defensive, and with detachable blades she could easily kill a Grimm on her own. "I see." Freesia finally spoke up. "You're the perfect tank fighter! When it's down to the last second, the rest of your team would throw you at the problem! My big brother was a tank fighter too!" An angry 'ssssh!' emitted from a few feet away. "Oh, sorry." 

   Lilac chuckled. "I suppose it is about bed time. Tomorrow will be an even bigger day than this one. Let's get some rest." And she blew out the candle, basking the three girls in darkness.

* * *

    Freesia had slept like a rock last night. She stretched her arms over her head, the hilt of her ax clanging lightly against her armor. Lilac was helping her lace up her knee guards. Wisteria was pulling her blonde locks into her signature buns. She pinned the two orange flower pins in the tight buns with a smile. "Even if we don't end up on the same teams we should try to remain friends! It'll be nice to have someone you know at least in the school!"

   "Even if the three of us end up on the same team, we need one more member." Wisteria stated. "My Grandpas told me that you learn to love your team. Unless you're Papa Tucker. His team still pretends to hate each other." She let out a musical laugh. "Y'know, I do know another person here! A boy! His name is Rho Dodendron! Maybe we could try talking to him about joining us!"

   "I don't-" An announcement rang out, calling all new students to the cliffs outside. Lilac stood and grabbed her staff. "Alright, let's get going!" The walk to the cliff was a fun little jaunt. All three girls talked happily about this and that along with all the other new hunters-in-training. Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch had them stand on platforms at the cliff's edge. They explained the rules and expectations of their activity. Blah blah blah, first person you meet eyes with will be your partner for the rest of your career, yada yada yada. With that final warning, they launched the first student off the cliff.

    Freesia heard Lilac yelp quietly with surprise. She glanced at Wisteria, who had her lips pursed in thought, like she was quickly developing a landing strategy. Before she knew it, Wisteria was launched, quickly followed by Lilac. Her turn was soon. "See you guys at the bottom!" She hollered as her platform sprung forward and launched her into the air. She was enjoying the feeling of air rushing around her when it hit her. She didn't have a landing strategy.   
 

 


	7. The First Days|Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being flung into the Emerald Forest from the top of a cliff was only the beginning. Now the students must fight their ways to find relics and get out alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who gave this fic a chance! If you like this, and haven't read it already, I do have another fic called "What happens on the mountain." It's an Achievement Hunter/ Until Dawn crossover and it's perfect for spooky halloween feelings

The flock of students ahead of her seemed to soar through the air like majestic birds.

Of course, the sight would be much better if Freesia wasn't falling through the air at alarming speeds towards a forest full of Grimm. She figured that this would be just like every other time she found herself falling like this and just decided to wing it. After all, it was what she did best. She turned in midair so her back was facing the ground and pressed the butt of her weapon into her chest. She fired off three rounds, each shot sending her closer and closer to her destination. She curled into a tight ball before impact and the back of her armor took a majority of the damage from the thick branch she had just bounced off of. 

Before she could descend any further she flung the axe end of her weapon out and snagged another branch. She dangled there for a few seconds before hauling herself up. "Haha! Perfect landing!" Just as her victorious cry left her throat the branch began to shudder. It cracked and sent her "perfect landing" crashing to the ground. Nearly a mile away Lilac's long ears perked. She had been hearing other students land for a few moments now, but none of them had been that rough sounding. Definitely Freesia. 

She had unknowingly been training for this her whole life. Between games of hide and seek with her parents and a few of their staff to perfecting her semblance, avoiding people was becoming one of her strongest points. She just hoped Freesia would be equally as good. 

Lilac's landing had been graceful. Well, more graceful than most. Her fluffy cape and petticoats slowed her down and the use of wind dust to keep her slightly afloat above the treetops had allowed her to gently touch down on a thick branch and climb her way down. Judging by the landing she had seen a few others pull off, hers was quite flawless. Too bad no one else saw it. Oh well, they weren't being graded on it.... were they? The Professor had been awfully vague with the instructions before he launched them into the air and told them to fight their way out of a Grimm filled forest. Lilac's ears drooped. She had made herself nervous again.

Never mind all that! She had to find Freesia! Or Wisteria, she supposed. The other girl with a flowery name had been quite kind to them and Lilac wouldn't mind being partnered with her, but Freesia was her first friend. A bound like that seemed special, and she felt as if they were meant to be partners. Hopefully fate felt the same. Lilac ventured through the forest, holding her staff close. Sounds of combat echoed around her followed by mixed emotion cries as people met their partners. Some were elated and couldn't wait to spend the rest of their school years with their new friends. Others expressed their disdain on the spot, not caring who heard. Occasionally someone would draw near to her and she would duck into the bush, using her gloved hands to tug her ears out of sight. She already felt like a real huntress on a stealth mission. The thought made her smile.

Freesia had been working just as hard to avoid contact with another student. She had her little heart set on Lilac and by God she was going to be that girl's partner. Instead of crawling through the brush she had climbed back into the trees and was jumping from limb to limb with mixed amounts of finesse. Her metal boots clanged harshly against the rough bark of the trees but for some reason most students seemed just as determined as she did to avoid others. Of course some already had partners and some were engaged in heinous combat with the Grimm but that was beside the point. "Lilac?!" She called out as she jumped from an elm to a nearby oak. Orange orbs scanned the area for her telltale ears or pastel color scheme. "Liiiiilaaaac!" she said once more. 

"Freesia?" came the hushed respond. Freesia glanced down and her face split into a wide smile. Right below the branch she could see the light glittering off of the dust imbedded in Lilac's staff. The bunny faunus hadn't noticed her yet. Perfect set up for a dramatic entrance. Freesia ran for the tree's trunk and launched herself into a backflip and off of the branch. Her armor rattled loudly as she landed forcefully but miraculously upright. Lilac startled and let out a small yelp. 

Orange met lavender. Two faces wore bright genuine smiles. "Hey there, partner!" 

"Hello, partner." 

* * *

"It seems that Miss Unschuld and Miss Fiducia are paired with each other." Glynda remarked. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. He had spent a long while considering both girls for his academy. Miss Unschuld came from a large family of hunters, and Miss Fiducia's father owned a fairly successful ammunitions company. Freesia had attended Signal, but had not received particularly high marks on anything but combat. Lilac had never attended school, instead had private tutors teach her as much as they could. The two lived incredibly different lives but seemed to click together perfectly. 

Ozpin nodded. Days like these were his favorites.

* * *

 

Wisteria tapped the buttons on her belt and released two blades into her hands. Her heels locked together as she spun through the air, her blades sinking into the wood of a narrow tree branch near the very top of a large oak. The view was perfect. She was sad they hadn't let her bring her camera along. But it was for the best, she supposed. Wisteria had a mission out here in the Emerald Forest, and taking pictures for her family was not a part of it. It would have been nice, but that didn't matter right now. Getting down from the top of the tree in stilettos and a weaponized skirt proved to be much more difficult than she had thought, so that quickly became her main focus. Despite years of practice she would occasionally teeter or wobble in her heels as she traversed the branches like a trapeze artist. 

She wondered if they had done the same thing to pair up her Grandpas, or even her own father. Her mother had gone to another school, and she doubted they had the same kind of resources in Vacuo. Which made her wonder about the Vacuo tests. Papa Tucker had often told her that her mind was like a train with no brakes. She would blow through each topic and soon lose track of where she was supposed to stop. Her thoughts distracted her from the task at hand and if not for her tight grip on her blades, which she had been using to stab into the tree so she wouldn't fall, she would have gotten seriously injured. 

Finally she dropped from the lowest branch and reinserted the blades into her skirt. The satisfying click they made always made her smile. Now, to find a partner. The person she would train with for the rest of her time at Beacon. No big deal. Not at all. Her father had been paired with someone he didn't like at first and now he was fighting Grimm side by side with his beautiful wife. No matter who she got paired with she would make the best out of it, for her father. 

Rho wasn't as optimistic. He also didn't care who he was paired with, but his reasoning was much the opposite. He didn't think he needed a partner, actually. But if Ozpin insisted on forcing them into teams then so be it. He could bear it until graduation. No one was going to force him to make nice with his team once their time was through, so it literally didn't matter one bit who his partner was. 

Rho's love for the wild side had bled into his landing strategy. While most students had their weapons transformed to fire bullets or whatever to help propel them toward the trees or slow their decent, Rho left his in longboard mode. He had spent the night installing a new feature: magnets. The nifty little gadgets were not only attached to his board's surface but to the soles of his shoes as well. This kept the board secure on his feet, which allowed him to try a stunt he had always wanted to take a stab at. He leaned forward with his feet out flat, nearly parallel with the ground below. The board touched down with out a hitch and he skated the length of the tree branch. His heart raced with adrenaline as he kick flipped off the end of the branch and onto the beginning of another. The whir of his wheels against wood made his head feel clearer. Less angsty.

Like he was free from all of his worries.

And then he missed.

Another simple jump that he just happened to his. He went face first into the branch below, and then back down against the branch below that, and the branch below that. And the branch below that. All the branches until they finally deposited him mercilessly on the forest floor. His body made a loud  _ **thud**_ that echoed tauntingly in his ear. It didn't hurt, of course, but my God it was embarrassing. And just his luck, he heard footsteps approaching. He lifted his head and brushed the pink curls from his eyes. The person looking down at him was smiling softly with little giggles escaping her lips. She tucked the thick curtain of dark purple locks behind her ear and pursed her lips into a knowing smile.

"We have got to stop meeting like this."

* * *

"Mr. Dodendron has partnered with Miss Tuckington. Huh, haven't heard that name in a while." Glynda made notes on her Scroll to keep a close eye on this particular pair. Both came from families that had previously studied at the school. Both families had been trouble incarnate. She expected nothing less from a couple of teenagers raised by that brand of chaos. 

Ozpin smiled. He remembered both Junior Tuckington and Rose Dodendron very well. Both had been exceptional students, proving their strength in every tournament and mission they did. He would occasionally get updates from them or their teams. He imagined Junior would be very pleased to hear of his daughter's new life at his school.

"Good work, Glynda. Let's keep an eye on the other students. We might be able to finish this trial by sundown."

* * *

"I'm just saying, maybe smiling would make this go a bit smoother?" Rho let out a heavy sigh. He walked a few paces ahead of Wisteria, who kept insisting that he be a bit more friendly. "Or tell me something about yourself! We're partners, we're stuck with each other from now on. Might as well know about each other. I'll start! My name is Wisteria Tuckington and my favorite food is raspberry flavored candies."

Rho let out another sigh as she kept talking. He couldn't think of a friendly way to tell her that he frankly didn't care. "My little brother Warren has a prosthetic leg. I didn't design it, but I customized it for him. I'm really into design and crafting things like clothes and weapons. Hey, if you want I could look at your longboard! It's nice, but the color doesn't really match the rest of you-"

Rho felt her fingers touch one of his wheels and he instinctively yanked it out of her grasp. "No!" Wisteria flinched and drew her hand back. "S-sorry, Rho. I didn't mean to upset you." Ugh. There she went again, sounding so genuine. How could she be so caring for other people? For a stranger? "Just, just don't touch my board. My sister helped me make it." Her face shifted to one of understanding. "I get it. I'm sorry, I should have asked."

"Stop apologizing." He stopped and turned to face her. This was it, he was going to tell her the truth about wanting a partner. But before he could lay out his words, a great roar tore through the air and something stampeded through the space between them. Rho only caught the tail end of what had barreled past them, but it looked like a student riding and Ursa, making it run faster with blasts from her own grenade launcher. The altercation, while rough, had left him unscathed as usual. He turned back to Wisteria to continue where he left off. Once again he was interrupted.

"You're bleeding." She clutched her injured shoulder and winced. "Yeah, not all of us are the invincible boy." Her tone was still so friendly. How on Earth was she pulling this off?! Her dark skin seemed to glow as she channeled her aura into healing her wound. He had seen hunters do it plenty of times, but never up close. Rose had left before she could teach him how. Once she was done she seemed sway with fatigue. He sighed and let her lean against his shoulder. "Let's go find that relic." He would have to tell her the truth later. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why


	8. The First Days| Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With new partners found the flower children claim a relic and get the hell out of dodge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know my dude. I had been working on that last chapter for months and now I feel like I got all this new motivation.

Lilac ducked under the swiping claws of a Beowolf and countered with a wide swing of her staff. The active lightning dust sent a shock through the Grimm, stunning it. Freesia leapt into the air and brought her might axe down onto the creature's neck. "That's the last of 'em!" She cried. She and her new partner high fived and exchanged smiles. They would have never guessed that the two of them would work so flawlessly together, but it didn't surprise them. It was like they had discussed last night; Lilac was a defensive fighter, Freesia was offensive. On their own they could get the job done but it went so much smoother when they worked together. Seeing as they had defeated a horde of Beowolves in record time, they knew that fate had made a good choice. 

The pair had been roaming the forest for a while now trying to find the relics. So far, all they had found was Grim and the occasional groups of students. A few of them already had relics and helped direct them towards where they had found them. The last pair, two girls named Saffron and Harley, had told them that they were on the right track. Harley had complimented Lilac on her outfit and Saffron had been a near match personality wise to Freesia. They were nice girls. Lilac wondered if they could possibly be teammates. Ozpin hadn't really explained how partners would turn into teams of four. 

Worries of the future aside, they were reaching a clearing. Freesia rushed ahead of Lilac with an excited whoop. "They're here, they're here!" Lilac's ears perked. They had finally done it! Lilac raced out to meet her. To her surprise, the relics weren't the only thing that Freesia had been talking about. Wisteria and a boy decked from head to toe in various shades of pink were examining the relics. The relics themselves were oversized chess pieces. Some of them were gone already. "This is the place, alright."

Wisteria was examining a golden bishop carefully. Her partner seemed tired, not sleepy tired. More like "I want to get out of here right now I would eat my own hand to leave" kind of tired. Freesia hopped up next to the two and looked at the other bishop. "Hey Li, you okay with this weird thing right here?" 

"It's called a bishop, Freesia." Wisteria corrected. Lilac came up to join them, standing between Freesia and Wisteria. "I'm fine with the bishop if you are." Freesia nodded and swiped the bishop from it's pedestal. Wisteria glanced at the boy and he nodded. She also picked up the bishop. "Now we just have to get out of here safely."

"Easier said than done." The boy griped. Wisteria turned to him with a small pout on her face. Lilac didn't know if she liked this boy yet. He seemed so pessimistic no matter what was happening around them. He carried a longboard at his side. "You brought your skateboard?" Lilac questioned. He shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's also my weapon so-"

"You're weapon?" Freesia cut in. "What do you do? Hit the Grimm with it?!" The pink boy smirked. Wisteria muttered a little exasperated "Here we go again." as her partner held his board at arms length. Before their very eyes it folded and flipped and transformed into a grenade launcher the size of his torso. He shouldered it and fired one round into the horizon. They didn't see it, but they heard it make impact. "I can lace 'em with dust, too. Makes for a pretty messy battle, but I like it." He retransformed his board and carried on with his life. "Rho, you shouldn't waste your ammunitions like that!" Wisteria scolded. 

"They asked to see it, Wisteria. Who am I to deny the people of what they want?"

"Someone who will die when his grenade launcher runs out of grenades to launch!" Freesia and Lilac watched as the pair bickered back and forth like an intense game of verbal ping pong. It was nice to see that they were already close. "So, this is the boy that you told us about yesterday!" Freesia exclaimed. Rho turned to glare at her. "He sure is! Trust me, he didn't seem like this much of a grouch yesterday when he wiped out in front of me." Suddenly Rho's face was as pink as his hair. "Y-You don't have to tell them about that!" Wisteria stuck out her tongue. 

They came across a bridge over a deep and wide cavern. It led to a steep hillside. "No. We'll go around." Rho insisted. Freesia looked a bit disappointed. Lilac took her hand and led her back into the woods after Rho and Wisteria. As they walked, Lilac's keen ears picked up the faint movements all around them. She tugged Wisteria's shirt and whispered her concern. Wisteria nodded sternly and passed the word on to Rho while Lilac told Freesia. The four of them steeled themselves for battle. 

A horde of Ursa had been trailing them through the brush and saw them pausing as the perfect moment to attack. They were dead wrong. The first one lunged out at them only to be picked off by Freesia's sniper rifle. "Aw, you guys again? What is with me and Ursa?" Wisteria's skirt whirred to life and she launched three blades from their positions in her skirt and flung them one by one into the opposing Grimm. Lilac was having a harder time. Beowolves stood on two legs and had unprotected torsos. Boarbatusks were easy to flip once you got the hang of it. Ursa were big and bulky with patches of armor along their fur. There was little space for staff to make accurate hits. Blasts of wind only did so much to keep them at bay.

Rho, who was zipping through the clearing on his board in order to draw attention to him and confuse the Ursa, noticed Lilac's struggles. He rolled his eyes. As much as he didn't want to get involved with anyone else, he couldn't stand there and watch the Faunus girl get hurt. He turned his route towards Lilac and promptly swept her off of her heeled feet as he zoomed past. She was heavier than he had anticipated, but still enough to handle. Luckily she had been stunned by the sudden swipe and did very little to struggle. He kept one arm secured around her and used the other to grab a low hanging branch and stop their motion. His board kept flying and his feet rocketed into the air. He used this momentum to help haul the two of them up onto the branch, where he set Lilac down. 

"I... thank you. But I'm not going to stay here for the whole fight." 

"I'm not gonna make you. See that girl right there?" He pointed to Wisteria. "Use your staff and send wind towards her." Lilac's eyes went wide. "That'll knock her off center! That could get her hurt!" 

"Trust me." Lilac didn't want to trust Rho. Sure he hadn't given her any reason not to, but she still felt wary. But she would listen, just this once. She twisted the midsection of her staff and activated the wind dust and twirled it in front of her. A large gust of wind blasted towards Wisteria. The dark skinned girl flung her hands out, a light purple aura radiating from them. The gust hit her full force yet she remained upright. More than upright. She clenched her fists and raised them above her head. In an instant the wind billowed beneath her like a geyser and sent her into the sky. She spun in mid air, her weaponized combat skirt flaring out around her. "Another one!" Rho yelled. Lilac didn't hesitate to send another blast in Wisteria's direction. She held this gust for a moment before using it to propel herself back towards the Earth. Her skirt was spinning rapidly and her hands touched down on the ground. She had landed in the middle of the pack. The blades of her skirt made thick slashes in the skin.

Rho zoomed into the fray and snatched her up just like he had with Lilac. He didn't take her very far, just away from the chaos so she wouldn't get hurt. Her skirt was slowing in its rotations and she was clutching two blades like swords. Freesia was on her way to joining Lilac in the trees. "Easier to pick em off from up here. Plus you seemed a little lonely." Freesia shouldered her weapon and fired round after round at the swarming Ursa. Rho and Wisteria seemed to move around each other like they were dancing among the claws and teeth with each other. The way she twirled around him, how he would lift her like a ballerina and let her use his body as a spring board in order to throw herself back at an Ursa. 

Lilac felt useless perched up here at a safe distance while they did all the work. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how. A defensive weapon, a defensive semblance. She was a protector, not a brawler. But she did have a brawler on her side. She leaned close to Freesia and whispered a plan as if she spoke any louder the Grimm would hear her. Freesia's face lit up with excitement. 

Lilac whistled sharply and several of the Ursa turned to the pair. With two quick twists. Lightning fizzed to life and engulfed her staff. "Go!" She hollered. Rho stumbled a bit from her sudden yell and didn't avoid the swipe from a powerful paw. He heard the soft click of his magnets detaching. Perfect. He flipped onto his hands and grabbed his board and uppercutted the Ursa with it before jumping out of the way. 

Lilac hopped onto the blades of Freesia's axe gun and Freesia swung it like a bat. The faunus girl was flung from the treetop and high above the fray. She twirled her staff and let loose a large bolt of electricity into the Grimm. They were effectively stunned. Now for Freesia's part of the plan. Using a move similar to her landing she strategy she rocketed herself into Lilac and then sent both of them into the crowd of stunned Ursai. The stood back to back, Freesia hacking the Grimm to bits and Lilac guarding her from sluggish bites or swipes. Wisteria did her best to take out the stragglers and Rho had yet to actually do anything. He opened his vest. One vial. Bright red.

Perfect.

"I'm running low on rounds here!" Freesia called. Lilac nodded and grabbed her partner's hand. "Wisteria, take us up!" With two twists, a hard hit on the ground, and Wisteria's semblance the two were once again soaring above the battle. Freesia fired another bullet, striking one Grimm in the head and propelling them close enough for Lilac to snag a branch and haul the two of them up. Wisteria was quick to follow. The three girls looked down at Rho. He was wielding his grenade launcher once more with a malicious smile on his lips. "Fire in the hole!" He shouted. And then there was. Two grenades laced with fire dust struck the Ursa horde head on and disintegrated the surviving Grimm on impact. He shielded his eyes and glanced up at the girls. He waved smugly. 

"Way to go, Rho!" He gave his partner a thumbs up. "Let's get out of here, yeah?"

* * *

 

Ozpin cleared his throat. "It has been a long day for all of us. Some had great success, others might feel otherwise. Either way, tonight you will be matched into teams based on the relics you retrieved." Freesia fidgeted in her seat as they announced team after team. Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose. Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc. Team CRDL, Team SPHR. Finally Ozpin called them up onto the stage. "Freesia Unschuld, Lilac Fiducia, Rho Dodendron, and Wisteria Tuckington. You retrieved the white bishop pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as Team FLWR. Led by.... Freesia Unschuld."

Lilac jumped excitedly and wrapped her arms around her shocked partner. "L-led by? I'm the team leader?" She looked over at her other two teammates. Wisteria was beaming like a proud parent. Rho was smiling too, but he seemed a bit shocked as well. The new team chattered excitedly all the way back to their new dorms with their bags and new uniforms in hand. Everything seemed so shiny and new and they hoped it would last forever.

Ozpin smiled. It was going to be an interesting year. He hoped his students were ready.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol feast or famine u guys


	9. Getting to know you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Class is now in session! Will FLWR be able to keep it together, or will they wilt under the pressure?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my pal's birthday soon. Happy Birthday GT!!!!!

"Co-ed dorms. How lovely." Rho remarked. The thought of rooming with three girls exhausted him more than it should have, especially knowing that those three girls would be his team for the rest of his time at Beacon. Freesia was already claiming her bed by tossing her belongings haphazardly across the comforter. Lilac was a bit more neat, taking the time to lay out her clothes in organized piles. Wisteria was laying face down on her bed. Rho didn't know how but he somehow related to every single one of them. 

"You know we could probably rearrange the room to suit our personal tastes. Or at the very least we could move the beds around." The dorm itself was a bit small. There was enough space to hold the four beds and a door that probably led to a bathroom. Rose had told him that living with her team had been one of the things that had made them so close, but he didn't want to be close to his team at all. Sure they had fought really well together, and Wisteria had those big sister qualities that made him feel a bit more secure, but he had to stick to his plan. 

"We can worry about that tomorrow. How are you not tired right now? Today was sooooo long." Rho flopped onto his bed with a sigh of resignation. "I guess I just have more stamina than the rest of you."

"Or you just skated around and only contributed at the end." He sat up and glared at Freesia. She smiled smugly. "If you weren't my teammate I'd duel you so hard your descendants would feel the shame. Consider yourself lucky." 

"Edgelord." Wisteria chuckled into her mattress. Lilac bid everyone goodnight and turned off the lights. 

The next morning came fairly smoothly. They were all up and dressed before breakfast and in the mess hall in record time. "Y'know I heard they let the students have free range of the kitchens." Freesia said around a mouthful of toast. "So like I could make us dinner anytime I wanted!" Lilac slapped her on the back when the toast went down the wrong pipe, causing her to choke. "That doesn't sound like a good idea. The letting students have freedom in the kitchen, not you cooking. Well..." Wisteria swirled her spoon in her tea while she thought. Rho snickered. "After the crazy fighting moves you pulled yesterday, I'd be a bit afraid to let you near an open flame. And knives. And boiling liquids. And-" Freesia smacked a hand over Rho's mouth. "I get it! I'm a lot more coordinated in the kitchen, though!"

They passed casual talk and insults back in forth while they ate. Students continued to move around them, all different ages and races. Lilac's eyes lit up when she saw another rabbit Faunus taking with her team. She wondered if they treated her any different because of her race? Or if she got picked on? Was her arrival at Beacon as heartbreaking as her own? Lilac was lost in her thoughts when someone behind them cleared their throat.

Team FLWR turned around to gaze upon whoever dared interrupt their team breakfast banter. An upperclassman with a shock of white blue hair that contrasted drastically with his black skin and piercing eyes stood above them. At his side was a shorter girl with similar hair and skin, her hair pulled up into twin braids. Poking up from her head were two long white fox ears. "Hi there! Welcome to Beacon!" The girl chirped. The boy nodded and smiled, though it seemed a bit forced. "I am Solange, and this is my partner Odette. We're a part of Team SNOW. Though they don't officially do so, we would like to become your team's mentors."

FLWR exchanged confused looks. Odette picked up on this. "Like, if you need to know where your classes are or where the armory is or help with your homework! Stuff like that, y'know!" 

"Oh. We don't need that right now." Rho stated. His teammates winced from his bluntness towards the upperclassmen. The upperclassmen seemed just as shocked by his statement as his team. "Oh." was all Odette could muster up. Solange looked like he was trying to contain his anger. His partner took his arm and led him away before he could explode. "Rho, that probably wasn't the best thing to say." Wisteria's voice was low and full of disappointment. "They're or mentors, we could learn a lot about the school and fighting from them!" Freesia cried.

"I don't need any help learning to fight. I'm already leagues ahead of the rest of you." 

Lilac's ears drooped. He had a point, he did fight more efficiently than she did, but there was no reason to proclaim it to the rest of the team only a day after their formation. "And even if I did, I don't want it from them." That sentence struck her heart hard. She couldn't help but wonder why their appeal was ineffective towards Rho. Was it the fact that they were still students? Or something else? Neither of them had seemed cold in their proposal, despite the fact that both of their names and their team name meant cold or snow. Wisteria and Freesia continued to berate him while questions raced through Lilac's head. 

"Is it.... is it because she was a Faunus?" The chatter stopped. They all looked at her and she raised her voice. "Do you not like them because she was a Faunus?" The bell sounded, signaling the end of their breakfast time. "Let's just get to class."

* * *

The lesson dragged on. Professor Port was a bit of a droner, and that made it hard to focus. Surprisingly enough, this was the most boring combat class she had ever attended. Judging by Freesia's not-so-subtle snoring, she felt the same. Even Wisteria had spaced out and started sketching in her notebook. It looked like she was redesigning her weapon. Lilac hoped she wasn't actually planning on adding in a gun function. The only one who seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention was Rho. Of course. He still hadn't answered Lilac's question and it was starting to weigh on her mind and her heart. 

What if she was right? What if he hated the Faunus like so many often did? That meant he probably hated her. He didn't act like he hated her, though. Maybe he was just good at hiding it? No, Rho wouldn't do that. He was terrible at hiding his emotions. She had only known him for a day and she could tell that. But then again.... what if he did hate her, but not because she was a Faunus. What if he hated her for being trans? Sure, he probably didn't know about that yet but those bullies on the airship had pointed it out. Of course, they probably didn't know either. They were just trying to make her cry, and it had worked. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts by an exasperated yell from the front of the room. Weiss Schnee was volunteering to participate in combat against a Boarbatusk. Wait, what? How the heck did that happen? She left the room to change into her combat outfit and grab her weapon. When she returned they watched in awe as she slayed the Grimm. Lilac and Wisteria gasped when the Grimm managed to disarm her and knock her down. The Professor didn't seem phased by this. They wondered how many times he had done this. 

Weiss finally managed to conquer the beast and with that class was dismissed. The other students avoided the brewing quarrel going down between Weiss and her team leader. Lilac watched the two of them go their separate ways as they went on with their class schedule. She hoped her team didn't feel that sort of animosity towards each other. 

The rest of the day went rather smoothly. They returned to their dorm and arranged their beds so that two of them were on one side of the room (Freesia and Lilac's) and the other two were on the other (Rho and Wisteria's). They unloaded their things as well. Out of all of them, Wisteria had brought the most. Cameras, sewing equipment, and various articles of clothing littered her side of the room. "Sorry," she said, "My Grandpas insisted I needed all of it. Better over prepared than under." Rho said he didn't mind. He really only brought his board and extra clothing. Lilac had brought a few things as well. Various dresses and coats and boots. A few books and tons of things to study with. Freesia had brought along armor polish and sharpening stones. Each of them had figured the school would provide Dust and ammunition for the students. "And if they don't, there's a few shops in town that sell them! We just need money..." 

They spent the remainder of the night finishing up on their organization and unpacking. Lilac went to bed that night anxious. Rho hadn't answered her question. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short but it will get longer i promise


	10. Learning More.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classes continue as normal. Team FLWR must learn to cooperate in order to work efficiently as a team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH!!! I NEVER UPDATE THIS IM SO SORRY  
> I've been working on other projects and obviously holiday season has been keeping me busy. But now that I have a weeks break I can dedicate more time to writing and drawing! Enjoy

A large sword crashed to the ground as Freesia rolled out of the way. She held the axe blades of her weapon in front of herself to block two more blows from the swords. Her opponent swung low, the ice dust embedded in the large blade forming large crystals around Freesia's boots, freezing her to the ground. She jerked her leg furiously to free herself to no avail. The other fighter swung both of his long blades at her exposed midsection. She batted each one away with her armguards. He moved for an uppercut with his second sword. The fire dust flared to life and Freesia barely managed to avoid the sear, the ice on her boot nearly cementing her in place. This was getting annoying. She cocked her gun and fired a round at her own foot. The ice cracked and she swung her newly freed foot up, kicking it into her opponent's chin. He crossed his blades in front of him, blown back a bit from initial hit. Freesia used the momentum of her kick to back flip a few feet away. She aimed her barrel at his chest and fired twice. He deflected both and pivoted on the ball of his foot, holding his arms out. A barrage of both ice and fire collided with her, knocking her off balance. She rolled across the stage, her armor clanging noisily as she flailed. Immediately she was back on her feet. She lunged for him and he grabbed her wrists. He raised his foot to kick her square in the stomach and- "That's enough!" Gynda Goodwitch turned up the lights and Freesia could see her teammates standing off to the side. Lilac was applauding softly for her. 

"As you can see, Miss Unschuld's aura has gone into the red. In tournament style combat, this would eliminate her. For today's sparring, Pirran Demir is the victor." Pirran's team cheered wildly for him. Freesia recognized his leader and her partner, Saffron and Harley, from the test in the Emerald forest. Glynda spoke of how the tournament was coming soon and asked for the next sparring partners to step forward. A boy named Jaune Arc and that bully Cardin Winchester. Freesia went and joined her team and watched the two spar. "Freesia, that was so cool! I've never seen anyone bounce back from a hit like that!" Lilac praised.

"Yeah, are you like, made of rubber?" Rho questioned. Freesia knew, after these several weeks together, that Rho meant it as a compliment. If he had something mean to say, he wouldn't be passive-aggressive about it. He was willing to criticize people to their faces and he had certainly done it. "Your form was quite lovely, Freesia. Although, you didn't really hit him. Like, ever." Wisteria commented. "The only thing you shot was yourself. On the upside, you did manage to free yourself in a very creative way. That was very good." Wisteria brushed her hair out of her eyes and straightened the flower pins in her buns. "Ice dust is one of the most popular since it can be used in so many different ways, so knowing how to free yourself from it is incredibly useful." Despite her role as the leader, Freesia often felt like the baby of the group. It was definitely the height.

This spar was even shorter than her own had been. Jaune either had no idea how to preserve his aura, or Cardin was purposefully beating him into the ground. Probably both. Glynda gave the same spiel about the tournament and how to preserve one's aura during battle. When she mentioned being "gobbled up by a Beowulf" the whole class went silent. They all heard Cardin mumble something mean under his breath. The bell rang and the class was dismissed for lunch. "Ooh! They have my favorite today!" Freesia called happily. Her team followed her into the mess hall. Freesia waved to Team SNOW sitting just on the other end of the mess hall. Odette's ears perked up and she waved back vigorously. Solange and the other two gave a nonchalant greeting to the underclassmen. They passed by a table housing Jaune's team and their friends from Team RWBY. They were discussing a strange dream that one of the table members had every night. 

Lilac taps Freesia's shoulder as she's eating. "You know, your axe blades are big enough to block blows and act as a shield. And then you can kick at the exposed parts of the Grimm or your opponent in the tournament." She advised. Freesia nodded. She was sure that Glynda had told her something similar in the past. Why she hadn't taken it, she wasn't sure. "Ow, that hurts!" Everyone's attention is turned to the cry. Team CRDL was gathered around a bunny Faunus girl, pulling at her ears and mocking her. Lilac's own ears drooped a bit. Wisteria wrapped her hand around Freesia's wrist to keep her from getting up and teaching the boys a lesson. Fighting outside of class was frowned upon. And they really didn't want to get kicked out of Beacon after a few weeks. They watched as the poor girl hurried away. Lilac glanced over at Rho. He seemed to be ignoring the whole situation. It had been weeks, and he hadn't answer her question about why he didn't like Team SNOW. She was beginning to think her suspicions were correct.

* * *

 

A few days went by and they were once again in history class. Doctor Oobleck was energetically talking about about the Faunus Rights Revolution.  "Humankind was quite, quite _adamant_ about centralizing Faunus population in [Menagerie](http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Menagerie). Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively _recent_ events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" Lilac looked around. She slowly raised her hand, as did another student. The bullied girl from the mess hall reluctantly raised her as well. Lilac looked at the other two Faunus with a sympathetic look. Doctor Oobleck kept teaching his lesson.

The class laughed as Mr. Arc royally screwed up the answer, which many probably thought was quite obvious. Binoculars, seriously? Although it wasn't a bad guess. Pyrrha Nikos and the quiet girl from Team RWBY provided the answers, effectively shutting down Cardin's rude remark about training animals. Seriously, who did this kid think he was?! "Now! Moving on!" Oobleck took a long sip from his thermos and moved on with the lesson. "The White Fang! Originally formed and led by a peaceful leader who encouraged the group to fight fire with kindness! But, after that leader stepped down, they adopted a more... violent approach. Many Hunters and Huntresses have fought against the group and have tried to take it down." 

Oobleck pauses and glances up at where their team is sitting. Lilac panics momentarily. Was he looking at her? If he was, why? "In fact, we have someone in our class today who is... related to the cause. Mr. Dodendron." Rho sits up. He hadn't been paying attention, really. He was already pretty well versed in his knowledge about the Faunus War. But here he was, being called out in front of the class. "Yes, Professor?"

"Doctor." Oobleck hisses. "Mr. Dodendron, I'm surprised I did not make this connection before. Your sister was one of the many Huntresses that fought against the White Fang, correct? For those who don't know, Rose Dodendron was a graduate of Beacon. She and her own team would take missions from the government that required them to infiltrate the organization. On one particular mission, Rose and her partner were captured by the White Fang and, sadly, Rose lost her life." The class is completely silent. Rho can feel his guts twisting and he thinks he might be sick. He supposed he should have saw this coming. Rose and her missions weren't well known, but she went to Beacon. Of course some of the teachers would recognize the name and mention it. But it didn't make it any difference. It hurt. 

The lesson ends shortly after. Rho is the first one out of his seat and he rushed out of the classroom. Wisteria sighs and rises from her own seat. "You guys go on ahead. I'll go get Rho." Freesia and Lilac head to their next class and Wisteria chases Rho. He's not as fast without his longboard and she catches up to him fairly quickly. "Rho! Where the hell do you think you're going?!" He wrenches his arm out of her grip and moves to run away again. But she grabs him by the back of his uniform and holds him in place. "Why are you acting like this? Did Doctor Oobleck embarrass you?"

"No! Wis, let me go!" 

"I'm so sick of your angsty teen boy routine!" She hollers back. He stops struggling. "Stop bottling yourself up and just talk to me! I'm your partner, doesn't that mean anything to you?" She looked like she was about to cry. Seeing her like this made Rho's chest ache. "Tell me what's wrong. Please."

"My sister. Ever since she died I get really upset when someone brings her up." Wisteria crosses her arms. She knows there's more to it than what he's telling her. Rho sighs. "That's it. Seriously. Can we just go to class now?" Wisteria doesn't believe him one bit. But she is willing to drop the subject for now. She spun him around and personally walked him to class. The entire team noticed that he refused to look any of them in the eyes. Especially Lilac. 

* * *

 

They were escorted into the Forever Fall forest with Team SNOW and SPHR. "Make sure you collect loads of sap, children. A jar for each of you! That's 12 jars!" The teacher called as they split up. Odette and Solange beckoned for the rest of their team, two girls named Neu and Blanche, to follow them. Rho was still being weird. He had been that way ever since Oobleck mentioned Rose. Lilac, naturally, had come to the worst conclusion. That he hated her because of her heritage, because "her kind" had killed his big sister. It had been over a week now and he hadn't said a word to her. Lucky for them, they really didn't need to talk. 

Neu showed Freesia how to extract the sap from the tree. After Freesia ate the first jar ("It's really sweet! I bet I'm not the only one who tried it!") Lilac was tasked with holding the jars. She seemed a bit distracted, almost letting a jar slide out of her hands a few times. After the fourth time Blanche offered to hold them instead. "Are you okay?" The older girl asked. "I'm fine. Just.... has your team ever fought?"

"We're Huntresses, honey. You'll have to elaborate bit more than just 'fought.'"

"Like with each other?" Neu looks up and nods, blue white bangs falling in her face. "Of course we have. You think someone as stubborn as Solange would get along with us right off the bat? It takes time to form the kind of bonds most teams have." Lilac sighed and nodded. "So which one is it? Which teammate are you having trouble with?"

Lilac fidgets in her boots. "Uh... Rho. Rho Dodendron."

"Oh, that kid." Rho had already earned himself a reputation as the least happy kid on campus. And his reaction to his class learning about his sister had spread around, adding to his legacy. "You think he hates you because you're...." She paused and gestured for Lilac to finish the sentence. "A Faunus. Since his sister died fighting the White Fang and all..." Blanche's face looked disgusted. She was much more open with her emotions than her partner. "That's a load. People who can't differentiate between those terrorists and every other faunus is just as bad as the White Fang sees them." Freesia bobbed her head in agreement, tongue poking out as she concentrated on getting sap into the last jar. Lilac looked across the clearing to Wisteria and Rho. They had finished their task a while ago and were now sitting and chatting idly. 

"You should go talk to him." Neu insists. Her bunny ears droop. "He doesn't want to talk to me." Neu rises to her feet and places a gently hand on Lilac's shoulder. "You never know. You should talk, work things out. It's better than letting it stew until it boils over. When you let it get to that point, all you're left with is a mess to clean up." Lilac turned to Freesia. The blonde gave her a thumbs up. "I'll be over here. It'll be okay." 

A deep breath in. A deep breath out. Her heart was beating like a hammer against her chest. One foot in front of the other. Left, right. Left, right. Wisteria noticed her first. She raised her hand and gave a little friendly wave and a smile. Rho looked up as well. His expression didn't change. "Hey Li, what's up?" Wisteria asks. 

"I need to talk with you." Her voice is barely above a whisper. But Wisteria knows who she means and pulls herself to her feet. "I'll go see if Freesia needs anything." Lilac watched her move gracefully thought the crimson colored trees over to their energetic leader. Rho looked up at Lilac. She could feel herself shivering under his gaze. "I,uh, I think we should.... that we should ta- uh we could maybe talk about-"

"Sit down, Lilac." His voice isn't angry, but it's not warm and inviting. Lilac shakily sits beside him beneath the tree he's leaning up against. They're silent for a little while before Rho raised an eyebrow and gave a questioning "Well?"

"I think we need to talk about....about us." 

"There is no us." Again with the monotone voice and expression! If they built kingdom defenses out of Rho's demeanor they would never need hunters! "Us as teammates! We are going to have to live with each other until we graduate, and I need to know!" Lilac took a deep breath. "Rho, do you hate me?"  Tears are welling in her eyes and she doesn't care. Let them fall. Let everyone know how she feels. "I don't care if you do, I know why you would! But I need to know once and for all! Do you hate me?" 

Rho scoffs. The sound made Lilac flinch. He pondered the question, rolling it around his brain. "I don't know. Not you.... specifically, I guess." Her nerves flared even more. "But you do hate the faunus."

"I hate the faunus that are waging terroristic attacks against the kingdoms. I hate the faunus that are stealing resources from people who need them. I hate the faunus that killed my sister! But I don't hate you, you haven't done anything to make me hate you personally." Lilac is crying now. Her ears are drooped past her chin, partially hiding her face from sight. "I don't want to hate you."

"Then don't!" She pushed her hair and ears aside and rose to her feet. "If you can't differentiate me from the White Fang, then maybe you're just as bad as they think you are!" She borrowed Blanche's words as a crutch to convey her own anger. "Do you even realize that?!" He opens his mouth to defend himself but she continues to speak. "My parent's kept me locked up and hidden away from the world because of hatred! They nearly kept me from coming here to learn how to defend all of the world's people just because someone might hate me for being part rabbit! Do you realize how awful that is?! Your sister was a huntress, too! She did what she did to do what we're training for! Would Rose have hated a faunus for no reason?!" 

Rho remained silent. He pulled himself up and straightened out. He was taller than her, only by a few inches. But those inches made him seem to look down on her. He opened his mouth once more but was cut off by a sharp cry. "URSA! URSAAAA!" 

Neu and Blanche race over. "We have to go, there's a Grimm in the area." Freesia and Wisteria joined them. Wisteria placed a hand on Lilac's back in reassurance. "Rho, take your board and scout ahead. Where there's one, there's more waiting to strike just around the bend." Freesia said in her most leader-y voice. Rho nodded curtly and followed her command. Blanche turned to them, her weapon equipped in shield form. "We have to find Solange and Odette. You coming with?" Freesia shook her head. "We'll try and find the professor and Team SPHR. Don't worry, go and find your team." Neu transformed her gauntlet gloves, loading a few extra grenades into the slots. "We'll see you at the airships. Don't get into trouble."

The three girls ran in the direction they had came from, spotting other students doing the same. Many of them had abandoned their sap jars and opted for carrying their weapons instead. They were all expecting an attack. Why wouldn't they? Rho scoped out the path ahead and looped back around. "It's clear." He reported. "We should be able to get to the airships without any trouble."

"Alright. Take Lilac and go on ahead. Wisteria and I will go back for SNOW." Freesia took the dark girl's hand and tugged her back into the forest. For a moment, Lilac just stood there. She was waiting for Rho to pick up his side of the argument, to yell in her face. But he didn't. He held out his hand. "Hop on. It'll be faster this way." She hesitated, but took his hand in the end.

He was right. They reached the airship in record time.

* * *

The weekend came quickly. With the Vytal Tournament approaching, many shops were offering deals and sales on ammo, Dust, and tune-ups for weapons of all kinds. Rho and Freesia had gone into Vale for some shopping while Wisteria and Lilac stayed back at the dorms. They hadn't spoken to each other since their fight in the woods. Neither of their partners had pushed the issue. It was their business alone, no one else. They believed the two of them could handle it.

Wisteria lay on her bed, reading a cheesy novel that her Grandpa Wash had sent her. Lilac had wedged herself into Wisteria's arms and the two casually cuddled while the time passed by. It was nearly dark when the other half of the team returned. "Sorry we got hung up! There was a robbery in a local Dust shop. Plus we got our weapons fixed up by this really cool guy in town! He said he had a granddaughter studying here, but he wouldn't tell us her name."

Wisteria slowly sat up, wiggling Lilac out of her arms. "Oh, you met Brad? He's a good blacksmith. Mind showing me your upgrades, Frees?" Freesia took the hint right away and led Wisteria out of the tiny dorm room, leaving Rho and Lilac alone. "Lilac-"

"If you're going to yell at me save it for tomorrow. I'm too tired right now." Rho doesn't respond. Just reaches into his bag and pulls out a small wrapped package. He plopped it on her lap and left for the bathroom. She let it sit in her lap, suspicious. Why would he get her something? Slowly, she peeled off the wrapping paper, revealing a shoe box. Upon opening the box she gasped.

It was a similar style to her current boots, a bit lighter in color and flat soles instead of the wedged heels. She lifted them from the box carefully. Embedded in the heels were little pastel lilac colored wheels. "Huh?"

"So you can move faster without having someone carry you." Rho called. He leaned against the door frame wit his arms crossed over his chest. "I figured you probably don't like being crammed onto my tiny little board every time you need to get somewhere fast." He even let a small smile slip onto his lips. "Freesia suggested the color and style. I was gonna go with normal old skate shoes, but she insisted that if it was an apology gift you'd might as well like it."

Lilac felt like she was going to cry. Not because she was sad, because she felt like they had made a break through. They hadn't really settled any ground, there was no use in changing Rho's feelings over night. But they had gotten through to each other. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry too. Sorry for-"

"It's cool. C'mon. Put on your skate boots, I'll teach ya how to use them." 


	11. New Arrivals and Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With students arriving from all over Remnant, things are getting leagues more exciting at Beacon. But just below the surface, tensions are building. It's only a matter of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished my Until Dawn fic and then I took a nap and then I realized I'm basically at the end of Volume 1 of RWBY in this fic! And that I have no idea how to proceed with it! Obviously Volume's 2 and 3 end with those big, school/city wide battles that all the students were involved in but the finale of Volume 1 was a battle between Blake and Sun and the WF so like idk i tried yknow
> 
> Also I'm going to try and introduce my villains. There no where near as dangerous as Team CRME or CRMEN or whatever Cinder and her goons are called but they are a threat regardless.

"I'm bored." It was a deadly phrase within the FLWR dorm. Of course, that often depended on who was saying it. 

If it was Lilac, then the issue could be easily solved with a conversation or painting or a team walk around campus. Same with Rho, who had been going out to teach Lilac how to use her wheel shoes at least once a week. If Wisteria was bored (which was hardly ever) the situation could be fixed by one of the others asking her to do something for them (fixing an article of clothing, taking a few pictures with them, assessing an opponent's weaknesses.)

But today, the bored party was Freesia. This is where it could get deadly. Freesia was a ball of energy nearly 24/7. If that energy somehow ran low, the only way to get it back up ranged from playing video games to dangerous and somewhat illegal stunts, both metaphorical and literal. Plus they were already on Goodwitch's watch list after they somehow managed to scale the tower. In their defense, they only got about a quarter of the way up before they were busted.

"I'm bored." Freesia repeated. Lilac shot a worried look to her teammates. Rho was tugging his beanie over his ears, acting as if he hadn't heard a thing. Wisteria placed her camera on the bed in front of her and gave Lilac a similar worried glance. "I wanna go into town again! The Vacuo and Atlas students are s'posed to show up sometime this week! I wanna go down and see the competition!" Oh, right. The new arrivals had been a topic of conversation ever since the first mention of the Vytal tournament. It was odd for them to have forgotten about it. 

"I think I'd rather stay here." Rho muttered before going back to staring at the wall. Didn't even bother thinking up an excuse as to why he couldn't go. Luckily Lilac had him covered. "I'll stay here too. Practice with my new shoes. You and Wisteria should go, you two haven't spent much time together lately." The blonde glanced at the dark skinned girl, who was already packing up her camera and zipping up her boots. "I'm fine with that. Freesia, do you want to go now?" She smiled a motherly smile, and even with thick magenta hair hanging in her face her eyes looked warm and welcoming. "Sure. We'll see you guys later then?" Lilac nodded and gave Freesia's hand a squeeze before the two of them exited the dorm.

Rho waited until their footsteps faded into nothingness before turning to Lilac. "Wanna play a 1v1 match?" 

"You're on."

* * *

Vale was busy.

Everyone was preparing for the festival, despite it being a few months away. Balloons and streamers in hues of reds, yellows, and greens hung on streetlights and store fronts along with signs and banners that proclaimed "WELCOME TO VALE" for all foreigners. But not all the commotion was happy. 

Another dust shop had been hit in the past week. There were countless police officers surrounding the area. Monitoring everyone, regardless of age or race. It also seemed that Freesia hadn't been the only one who wanted to seek out the new arrivals. Excited first year teams crowded the docks, scanning the horizon for boats or airships that would carry in new friends and enemies alike. Wisteria noted the soft creak of the wooden docks when Freesia's heavy heels collided with them. The short blonde was bouncing idly, barely containing a wide smile. "You're really excited for the arrivals, aren't you?"

"How could you not be? All new people coming from across the world just to fight me! Well, us. But still! And the festival itself is so cool! There's a fairgrounds, and food, and everyone is happy to be there. When my brothers were in the tournament a few years ago, I met a really cool girl from Mistral who said she would become a Huntress just so she could come and fight me in a few years."

"You know that Mistral won't come for a few more weeks?" Freesia nodded. "I'm still excited. I grew up in a small village, so meeting new people didn't really happen too often." Wisteria knew that feeling. 

The secluded cabin in the woods was nice and peaceful, aside from the occasional Grimm wandering onto the property. It was perfect in so many ways. But it was lonely. Isolated. She took a few trips into neighboring villages with her Grandpas or her parents when they made it home, but had only been to Vale once. And back then, she had been alone and too determined to become side tracked and make any new friends. "The world is just so much bigger than we imagine," Freesia continued, "I think it's nice to see it come closer, even if it's just for a little bit." 

The loud bellow of a ship horn cut through the air, startling the pair. "They're here!" Wisteria made a futile effort to grab Freesia's hand before the small girl took off and rushed for the edge of the dock. "Wisty, hurry up!" 

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hold your horses!" Wisteria rushed over as fast as she could without her stilettos slipping through the space between boards. Freesia grabbed her wrist and pulled her right up to the edge where she was standing. "Look at those weapons! Oh wow! She's really pretty..." Freesia began leaning forward and Wisteria planted a firm hand on her shoulder to keep the girl from falling into the sea as she ogled the Vacuo students. "Look at the sword! It's huge! And that cool looking gun like thing! And all of those Faunus!" 

There were a lot of Faunus. Probably more than there were in Vale. "I've never seen so many in my life. I can't even imagine what it looks like on Menagerie." Freesia wondered aloud. There were Faunus of all kinds. Dogs, cats, a few deer. "It's.... incredible."  

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" The two looked up and saw a tan skinned blond with an open shirt and a swishing tail running down the length of the boat. "Thanks for the ride guys!" Freesia's eyes went wide with wonder as he jumped from the ship and latched his tail around a lamp post and hung himself upside down. A stowaway! "Do you think he's one of the Vacuo students?" Wisteria whispered to Freesia. 

Detectives began abandoning the Dust shop scene to catch the stowaway. Naturally, the boy took off running down the dock, past a group of girls from Beacon, and into the bustling crowds. "After him!" The sailors who had found the Faunus stormed down the ramp and onto the dock. One of their elbows swept too close to Wisteria, nudging her back slightly. The small movement caused her to teeter in her heels and move backwards where she bumped into Freesia. 

Wisteria had great balance. She had developed that along with quick reflexes when she had chosen to include heels as a part of her combat ensemble. Freesia was far more heavy on her feet. Her metal armor added unneeded weight that could assist in combat but often made her quite top heavy. Freesia's arms pinwheeled as she tried to right herself. Her heels had slipped over the edge of the dock and it was only a matter of seconds before they took the rest of her body with them. Wisteria righted herself and turned to grab her teammate but for once, it didn't seem as if she would be quick enough. 

"Whoa there!" A new voice called. Something whipped past Wisteria and wrapped around Freesia's wrist. She used this to pull herself back up into a standing position and moved away from the dock's edge. Wisteria could see that what had saved her had been a greyish green scarf and at the other end of that scarf was a smiling boy.

He was lanky, almost as tall as she was with droopy eyes that seemed to give off a comforting vibe from beneath the straw colored hair that hung over them. The boy was covered from head to toe in intricate straps over a simple off white long sleeved shirt and simple brown pants that he had tucked into lace up boots of the same color. A coiled studded rope hung off of one hip and a sharp looking blade dangled from one end. But most eye catching of all was the two large ram horns nestled atop his head.

"You really must be more careful." His voice wasn't too high nor too deep. It was oddly comforting. "Thanks! You really saved my ass." Freesia laughed. It was incredible how she could remain so upbeat even after her close call with a surprise swim. She handed him his scarf back. "Freesia Unschuld. Thanks again."

"Dillon Silverthorne. My pleasure." He wound the scarf back around his neck. "So what brings you to Vale, Dillon?" Wisteria asked. She placed a hand on Freesia's shoulder, partly to keep her from falling again, but also as a reassuring factor. She knew that her leader had a tendency to become over excited when meeting new people. Especially if that new person was from far away.

Dillon smiled once more. "I'm not here for the tournament, if that's what you're asking. My partners and I are here on business. The student boat was one of the only one's left we could get on to get her as soon as possible."

"Partners?" Wisteria questioned once more. She hadn't seen anyone else with him before. Then again, their introduction hadn't been the most orthodox. "Yes indeed. We got separated when I came to help you. Here they come." he turned to look over his shoulder. Wisteria followed his gaze. Two blonde girls were approaching them. One wore a grey corset with a white strip in the middle under a short sleeved fur lined cardigan. Her arms were covered by two long fingerless gloves and she had knee high boots over simple dark blue pants. Her hair was long, the bangs covered one of her dark eyes and it twisted over her right shoulder.  

The other girl was more showy. Her hair was cut in a short bob with hung just above her shoulders with a silver feather sticking out from it. She wore a dark grey sleeveless dress with a muted red vest over it. A similarly colored sash hung off of her waist and strange bunch of black and white coils wrapped around her left arm. She held up one hand and waved enthusiastically to Dillon. The Faunus waved back. 

"Might I introduce you to my partners, Blanche and Silver Plume? There is another, but he couldn't make it with us today. Girls, these lovely ladies are students of Beacon." The sisters raised their eyebrows. Freesia thrust out her hand for shaking. "Freesia Unschuld. Leader of Team FLWR." The girls shook her hand reluctantly. "Wisteria Tuckington. Nice to meet you. You know, we know another girl named Blanche. She attends Beacon with us and-"

"Dillon, we really don't have time for this." The long haired sister interjected. She held up her hand and tapped her wrist to indicate that they were running out of time. The Faunus nodded reluctantly. "Forgive me, you two. While it was nice to make your acquaintance, Blanche is right. Time is of the essence. Perhaps we will meet again someday." He gave a slight bow to the two of them before turning to face his partners. Wister could now see that the straps over his shoulders and chest hooked back onto a pack. It looked as if were made of metal or incredibly durable plastic. And it was covered in scratches and dents. 

"See ya later, Dill!" Freesia waved vigorously as her new friend disappeared into the crowd. "Well that was fun."

"I....I think we should head back to the dorm." No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the gut feeling. She thought there was something strange about the Faunus and his partners. And she didn't want her team to get mixed up in it. 

* * *

"You are going to blow our cover." Dillon let out an exasperated sigh. Blanche hadn't stopped berating him since they had left the docks. She had always been the pushier of the Plume twins. It irked him. 

"My dear, I hadn't even come close to revealing our plan. Really, you don't trust your own leader to do his job?" 

"I trust you!" The light and airy voice of her sister soothed his aching nerves. "Thank you, my dear Silver." He turned to the other girl. "Why can't you be more like your sister?"

"You would like that wouldn't you, you creep." 

This girl was going to send him to an early grave.

* * *

The large pickaxe swung past his head, missing the tip of his nose by mere inches. Rho tried to keep from flinching, tried to keep a nonchalant demeanor. If he was hit, he would feel no pain. But the idea of it still terrified him. Plus the lifeless gaze that the mask returned to him added to the fear settling in his guts. Despite all of the fear and hesitation he felt, this was it. The moment he had trained for. He was fighting the White Fang head on. 

Rho ducked under another powerful swing and dropped his board onto the ground, hopping on and heading for the far wall. He was back in the tunnels again. His wheels hit the wall and he pushed off of his board, rolling back towards the White Fang member. Before he could collide with them he swept his leg out and kicked their feet out from under them. Then he sprung up, catching them in the side with a headbutt. They let out a soft grunt of pain when they hit the ground but their reflexes were quick and they were back on their feet impossibly fast. Rho groaned and grabbed his board. He didn't want to risk changing it to launcher form while in such close proximity to his target. 

The pickaxe swung towards his head once more, embedding itself in the tunnel floor. Rho used this moment to slam his elbow into his attacker's face. The mask absorbed any bone breaking damage the hit would have inflicted, but he could tell that there was still pain from the startled noise. Rho pulled back and punched at the mask twice more before he was knocked back into the wall by a powerful kick. The White Fang member pulled out their weapon and stalked forward. 

"You are nothing but a fool. To come here and try and face us. To face me." Rho fumbled for his board. Screw waiting for a chance to create distance. He wouldn't even feel the blast, and if it wasn't too terrible his Aura would protect him from harm. He just had to choose the right kind of grenade. A real one would do the most damage, but it would also knock him out along with his enemy. Ice grenades would give a similar outcome, as would fire. He had finally settled on wind when the enemy kicked him in the chest and batted the board out of his reach.

"You are weak. Pathetically so." Rho's breathing turned heavy. He was going to die. The White Fang member chuckled sadistically. They reached up and slowly removed their hood and mask. Rho thought his heart skipped a beat as thick pink curls tumbled down her back and he stared into familiar piercing pink eyes. "You'll never be able to save me." Rose raised the pickaxe and powerfully brings it down on his skull

Rho shot up gasping for breath. Sweat was already drying and cooling on his skin. Freesia's snoring brings him back into reality. He is not in the tunnels. He is not on the verge of dying. Rose is still dead. 

He looked around at his teammates. All still asleep, or at least faking it. All he can hope is that he didn't talk or scream in his sleep like his parents said he was prone to doing. Rho grabbed his glasses and placed them on his face. He glanced at the time. Nearly 6 am. Might as well stay up. 

The day progressed fairly normally from there. Over the weekend the White Fang had struck at the docks. An attempt to steal thousands of pounds of Dust. They were stopped by a mysterious girl, a monkey Faunus from another kingdom, and one of their very own students. It was a very hot topic, to say the least. Speculations as to why the students had been there were also fresh on everyone's tongues. Rho didn't care for it. He was more interested as to why the White Fang had gotten so bold. They had taken full train cars right off the tracks before, but to do such a big heist in a populated area seemed risky, even for them. It didn't add up. 

Classes dragged on and on but eventually they did end. The girls went to the library to study and Rho returned to the dorm. He needed some time alone to think. 

Hours must have passed with him submerged in his thoughts because he didn't even notice Lilac sitting on his bed until she gently touched his shoulder. "Got you something." She said softly. She handed him a neatly wrapped parcel. It was longer than it was wide, light but not too light. "Don't just stare at it, open it." He gave into her demands. 

Inside was a dagger, small enough to conceal easily but big enough to do damage. "So you don't have to rely on us for close combat fighting. You can't keep fighting from a distance. It's.... not good to face your foes from far away. Sometimes head on is the only way, you know?" 

"Someone has been paying attention to Port's lectures." She shrugged. "Flip it over, there's something on the back." He did so. The underside of the dagger was detailed with his symbol. The spiral pattern of the petals framing a rose in the center. His name was written just below it. "Did you make this?"

"Goodness no! It's far too complicated, especially the engravings. But if it were simpler...." Noted. Lilac Fiducia could and would make a shiv. "Well, thank you anyways. I really appreciate it. I'll be sure to use it next time we fight." He placed an awkward pat on her shoulder. "You're welcome, Rho."

* * *

"Here. Photographic evidence of the raid at the docks this past weekend." The sheriff looked up at the man. Tall, lanky. Flanked by two girls. Curved horns on the top of his head. 

"How did you-"

"Do you want them or not?" The long haired girl growled. The sheriff felt conflicted. On one hand, proof that documented the White Fang stealing Dust crates would help close the recent string of robberies that had occurred over the past week. But to get the information from a strange source.... a Faunus no less. Nevertheless, the sheriff began to move the files filled with evidence towards him. The short haired blonde stopped him. She tutted gently, as if speaking to a naughty child. "You didn't think we were just giving them to you, did you?" He sighed. Of course.

"How much do you want for-"

"We don't want your Lien." The man stated. "Our services require something of equal value. For example, any.... spare documents that have been misplaced recently?"

"Preferably on the same subject." The short haired one chirped. "We don't have all night, old man." The long haired one snarled.

The three left with a manila envelope filled with "misplaced" documents on rallies and riots that had been staged by the White Fang within both the kingdom itself and the surrounding villages. "Do you think they'll really pay for this? They already know it happened, they were there."

"Yes, Blanche. But perhaps once they realize how easily their past endeavors have been found out, they will do anything to remain hidden. There are countless Faunus world wide who are sick and tired of the way humans treat us. I happen to know a quaint little warehouse where they could do some of their secret meetings."

"And let me guess. You sneak in and document the whole thing so you can tell the pigs all over again?"

"We all bring chaos in our own way, my dear. Ours just happens to be a never ending cycle." Dillon opened the envelope and leafed through the papers. "Oh my, look at this." The Plume sisters moved in to see the document clearer. It was a section from a newspaper, yellowed slightly from age. The date placed it at about 5 years old. "After the tragic death of Beacon graduate, we are now privy to the location of a secret storage unit for the terrorist group the 'White Fang'." Dillon chuckled.

"Our business is only just beginning, darlings." 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate writing
> 
> Anyways, that should do it for Volume 1! I got all 3 volumes of RWBY for Christmas so I'll probably catch up on the show a bit before the next chapter. Be sure to leave some feedback or just feel free to talk to me! Let me know what you think of Dillon and his girls?


	12. The best day ever (VOLUME 2 START!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The semester starts today!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay.....so like what if i updated.....consistently?  
> not gonna happen. enjoy your chapter

_"We have to go."_

_Rose looked at her partner's shaking form. He was injured, Aura dangerously low. He was crying. Emmers never cried. She knew that this was serious. Rose gently cradled his face in her palm, pressing their foreheads together. "You're right. Send the signal to Olea and Sang, and let's blow." Emmers pulled the two of them to their feet and started back through the tunnels. He kept throwing nervous glances over his shoulder, expecting the White Fang to suddenly appear behind them and kill them before they had the chance to fight back. Rose knew this fear was rational. She had it too._

_The tunnels were designed to be confusing to outsiders. The inhabitants had scribbled all sorts of contradicting symbols onto the walls and had painted over some all together. Emmers lead the way, as his memory was damn near photographic. "We're almost there, the air is starting to smell fresher." Just as the words had left his lips there were shouts from behind them. "Shit!" Worst fears were coming true. The sounds of heavy steps filled the tunnel and dear God it sounded like an entire herd of Boarbatusks were charging right at them. Rose pushed Emmers along. Now was not the time for slowing down._

_Emmers had been correct. The entrance was close enough that they could hear birds outside chirping in the morning air. Funny, it had been the dead of night when they went in. Time got away from you underground. The thunderous horde grew closer and closer. Rose knew that if they didn't hurry they would have to fight them but neither of them were in the kind of shape to take on a full blown attack from armed enemies. And even though she hadn't noticed it before, her partner seemed to run with a slight limp and blood soaked through the dark material of his pants. He would never make it out in time. She had to be a leader here. She had to make the decisions that needed to be made to save their lives._

_"Emmers." The dark skinned boy stopped running and turned to his partner. "I have an idea. You're going to have to trust me." Rose began removing her pink leather jacket and handed it to him. She always took off her jacket when it was about to get messy. Emmers nodded. "I always will." Rose pushed him so he stood at the crest of the incline leading out of the tunnel and backed into the entrance. The White Fang was growing closer and closer, close enough that the two of them could make out angry shouts and threats on their lives._

_"I need you to fire an ice round at me!"_

_"I only have one left!"_

_"I only need one! Just trust me on this!" Emmers looked into her dark pink eyes and he knew that Rose had thought this through. She would take that single round of ice dust and use it in some Macgyver esque way to get them out of this situation. "Alright." Emmers shouldered his weapon and aimed for Rose's center. Just before it hit her she held up her hands, catching the glowing round in midair. It seemed to levitate in the space between her hands like magic. But Emmers knew she was just gearing up to use her semblance._

_Rose's semblance allowed her to manipulate ice or ice dust, but didn't allow her to create it at will. As if that specific faction of power was reserved for someone far more divine and worthy, like a Goddess. Rose held the round in place with her eyes squeezed shut for a long few minutes. She was concentrating, thinking about what steps she had to take to manipulate this single round into something incredible. She waited until he could see white and black uniformed faunus with identical masks clearly before throwing her arms out, manipulating the ice to form a wall._

_With Rose on the wrong side of it._

_Emmers let out a panicked yelp and rushed forward. She must have messed up and trapped herself in there on accident. But if that was the case, then why wasn't she taking down the wall? Why wasn't she trying to get herself out of there? Did she think that she could take them all on by herself, even though she was just as injured as he was? Emmers began slashing at the ice with the blade of his chainsaw gun, but was halted by a small tap from the other side. Rose shook her head. She didn't want him to help her. Didn't want him to bust down the ice wall and save her. He could see her mouthing something to him. One word, very firmly._

_"Go."_

_And Emmers went._

* * *

"We need the perfect start to the semester! We have one last day of freedom before normal schedule starts up and I don't want to waste it!"

"Freesia the sentiment is very nice, but please stop standing on the table." Freesia looked down at her concerned partner. Lilac had a gentle hand resting on her knee, trying to pull her down from her precarious position atop their lunch table. The other two team members were looking up at her as well, Wisteria expectantly and Rho with bored half lidded eyes. Freesia pouted, but carefully dismounted from the table nevertheless.

All around the cafeteria students were planning the perfect way to spend the day with friends and teammates alike. Some even had binders full of possible plans. Freesia, however, was not that thorough in her prep. "I was thinking maybe we could go into town again! There's all kinds of fun stuff we can do there!"

"Actually I don't think we're allowed to leave campus today. Since we're all in uniform and everything." Leave it to Rho to once again kill the joy before it even had a fighting chance. "Although there's still plenty to do here!" Lilac placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "There's an armory that's even cooler than the one in town! Plus the library is full of books and if they're free we could use the computers to do...uh..something?" Freesia sighed heavily and flopped down onto the bench. "Yeah, you have some good points. But I really wish we could all go out and do something together! We haven't done anything like that in ages!"

She was correct. The last adventure into town had just been between Freesia and Wisteria, and it hadn't really gone how either of them had planned. Additionally, neither of them had seen hide nor hair of the three they had met at the docks that day. It wasn't surprising, Dillon had said that they weren't there to compete in the tournament so they had no reason to be anywhere near the school grounds unless they were coming to watch. And on that note, the tournament itself didn't even start for another few months. Yet, Freesia still missed her new found acquaintances. 

There was a loud yell from across the cafeteria. Team RWBY was at it again, each of them participating in the creation of different but equally destructive scenes. The Valkyrie girl was throwing food at Yang, who would catch it in her mouth. There was a hand on Freesia's arm before she could even consider joining in the throwing of food. Ruby Rose was holding up a binder with a very obvious Schnee symbol on the front but the words had been crossed out and replaced with "BEST DAY EVER ACTIVITIES". Their conversation was muffled and hard to make out, but if you listened you could hear them collectively groan, followed by Nora launching an apple at Yang's face and shouting "BOOO!"

Rho was keeping a close eye on the two teams. Actually, he was glaring killer daggers into all of them. Yang picked up the apple that had struck her and lobed it back, bu Nora dodged and it struck Solange in the back of the head instead. "Hey!" He barked. All three of his teammates grabbed his arms and held him to the table. "Looks like things are gonna get a little hectic." Wisteria said with a chuckle. 

"Aren't they always?" Lilac replied. The tension in the air was taut, like a bow string that was strung too tight and was going to snap back on the archer at any second. They were all just waiting for it to go. A few students had already packed up their things and started to vacate the cafeteria. It was almost like the room itself had a heart beat that was slowing down with every second until the final moment where it finally flatlined and chaos erupted. 

Weiss Schnee rose to her feet, probably to say something well meaning but with a snobby tone. Before she could complete her thought a full, incredibly delicious looking cream pie met with her face and coated her skin in that sickly sweet sticky cream. Rho zoomed to his feet and grabbed his bag. "Rho, where are you-"

"Nope."

"Rho come ba-"

"Not happening. I just cleaned this uniform."

"Rho Dodendron, if you don't-" 

"Bye." He was out the door lighting fast. "That was the most motivated I've ever seen him." Lilac mumbled. And with good reason. The pie to the face had been the straw that broke the boarbatusk's back and soon all hell was breaking loose. 

Freesia barely managed to duck underneath another pie that someone had thrown in their direction. They attended an academy built around the idea of training warriors. These warriors would be the protectors of tomorrow and must constantly be ready to do battle. In this instance, the battle was being waged with today's special and unhealthy amounts of soda. Wisteria stood in front of her team, using her semblance to redirect any lightweight objects thrown their way. The heavy ones were knocked away be Lilac and Freesia who were wielding their trays like shields.

"We gotta get out here!" Lilac yelled over the commotion. The three of them dropped to the floor and rolled under a nearby table as, surprisingly, Jaune Arc was knocked overhead and hit the window with a cringe inducing  _THUD._ Freesia had always dreamed of the death of a hero in battle. She just never saw that death coming from being impaled by a swordfish. By now, many students were fleeing the scene. Older teams seemed to be standing their ground, only to be caught off guard and sent flying. "We need an evasion plan!" Wisteria hollered. She turned to the Faunus, who had grabbed her ears and pulled them down so they wouldn't poke up over the table's edge. "Lilac, do you think you can get us out?" Her green eyes grew dark with worry. But she nodded. "Give some time to think."

Across the way, Saffron was leading her team in a charge against Team CRDL. Harley, armed with various condiment bottles, was squirting shots into their eyes and slicking the ground. Pirran and Radley using their strength defend Saffron, who was trying her hardest to yank a pole down from the ceiling. In a swift moment of strategic genius, Cardin grabbed the scrappiest member of his team and hurled him at the girl dangling from the ceiling. The two collided, knocked them both down and knocking Saffron out. Radley immediately jumped out of the combat zone and rushed a table of food, only to be struck by a flying baguette. Two members of Team SPHR, down for the count. Freesia said a quiet pray for her fallen comrades. 

"I think I've got it! Here's the plan..." 

Wind began to blow and swirl beneath them, and Freesia was starting to give off an orange glow. "Now!" Wisteria threw the wind up and blasted the three of them and the table into the air. Freesia, using her semblance, channeled her strength into her arm and landed a solid punch on it. The table flew through the air, catching the remaining CDRL members off guard. Team JNPR was already building an elaborately tall stack of tables on one end of the cafeteria, Nora Valkyrie perched at the very top yelling about being queen. The FLWR girls hit the ground running. They were almost to the door now when they suddenly swung open. Two boys, one incredibly excited by the scene, and the other terrified barged in. Now was there chance. The three pushed past the boys and retreated to the much calmer campus just outside. 

After a moment to catch their breath, Lilac giggled. The other two turned to see her pointing at Freesia. The blonde's hair was so full of food and soda that her signature orange flowers had seemingly been replaced with chicken wings. Freesia visibly cringed as she plucked the greasy food from her hair. "Don't laugh! It's not like you two are any better!" She was right. Both Lilac and Wisteria were absolutely dripping with soda. Wisteria's black lipstick was smudged across her cheek and her mascara was running. Both of their long flowing hair was now tangled, bits of today's lunch mixed in.

"You all look horrible." Rho called. He hadn't gone far, just waited right outside for his team to take the hint and follow him. When they didn't, he had opted to stay and spent those tense few minutes thinking of just how to explain his logic without sounding too gloaty about it. "Hey. We look awesome." Wisteria pulled a smashed grape from her mane and flicked it at him. "So much for our best day ever plans." Freesia sighed.

"I dunno. I think it was pretty fun!" 

* * *

"If I might have a moment of your time?" Roman turned away from his plans to see who had dared disturb him in his plan time. A single figure, tall and lanky, stood in the doorway. Roman wondered how the little punk had gotten past security, until he saw the slightly hidden Faunus feature. Ram's horns. "Sorry, kid. Meeting isn't for another few days."

"I'm not here for your White Fang meeting. Although, if you're not careful, the police might be." Roman whirled around. He was usually very level headed, for a master criminal. But threats of meddling from the local law always got his blood boiling. "What are you, a narc? Ratting out your brothers and sisters of the-"

"They are not my brothers and sisters. I have no affiliation with you or your beliefs. But...." The boy moved closer. Roman could clearly see the rope dangling from his hip and manila envelopes clutched in his hands. "I do believe that you and your organization have the right to do whatever it is you're doing for us in privacy. Sadly, you've gotten a bit.....careless as of late." The sandy haired boy pushed past him and strutted over to his wall. "Right out in the open? Bold choice."

"If you snuck in here just to tell me I'm bad at my job, then you can answer to my-" Roman made a move to fire his cane but the boy didn't react. At all. Instead he kept talking. "According to a source of mine, the Vale police department has gotten ahold of some very incriminating evidence of you. A dock robbery, stopped by a little girl with a bow."

"It wasn't just a little gi-" The boy's droopy eyes that had seemed so serene before now looked venomous. "Do you know that they also know about the White Fang's tunnel system? That you were all careless enough to kill a Huntress and know the whole Vale police force knows exactly where you hide your provisions?" He reached into the envelope and pulled out a yellowing scrap of paper. There was the headline, plain as day. Roman knew that the rest of the file was just as juicy. He wanted it. But he'd have to play it cool.

"Well, judging by the paper, they've known for nearly 5 years now. If they haven't acted on it by now, will they ever? Unless you have something better in that magic sack, I'm not interested. I mean, who pays good money for something they already have." 

"Oh. I don't want your money." Well that was... diffferent. Who didn't want money in this economy? "Well then what do you want?" The boy smiles. It's unsettling. An eerie smile, one that doesn't mean happiness. 

"I want power." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if yall liked the little flashbacks at the beginning, that could be like an every chapter thing for a little bit. idk. let me know


	13. The only difference between a friend and an enemy is how hard you step on their foot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With more and more students arriving each day, Beacon has decided to begin sparring between schools. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo what kind of panic!at the disco ass chapter title is this im
> 
> *inhales* I never ever ever really write romantic scenarios and because i'm autistic i don't really experience romance the same as everyone else????? so what seems cute and lovey to me could be really creepy???? who knows? i don't that's for sure
> 
> Weapon names  
> Freesia's axe gun: Blitzkrieg  
> Lilac's staff: Lance Geranium  
> Wisteria's Hell Skirt: Bloom  
> Rho's skateboard grenade launcher: Ruzena

Luckily, there had been little repercussions for the food fight. Glynda had mended the cafeteria to it's previous, pristine state like she had done this time and time again. The only true punishment was having to scrub the food and soda off of skin and out of hair. That and having to listen to Rho's "I told you so" every ten minutes. 

But like clockwork, it passed and classes resumed. As did late nights in their dorm with various books and worksheets spread across the space between the four beds and late night coffee runs. The new semester also brought something no one expected. Airships were being flown into Vale on a nearly daily basis now. Some of them had students, some carried soldiers. After the first few days, they went ignored by most of the students and teachers. Classes continued just as they had before. Sparring with Goodwitch was much more engaging. 

Lilac braced herself. Her opponent had a spear mounted on a long staff, much like her own, but was adorned with heavy rocks on the ends. "Thunder Storm. Haven. I'll try and go easy on ya." Her stern eyes glinted from beneath her rose colored visor. Lilac had caught a glimpse of the rest of the girl's team as they cheered her one from the stands. It seemed visors were a common accessory. "Lilac Fiducia. Don't bother."

The countdown began and both girls readied themselves. Lilac felt her bag, checking to see if all of her Dust was in order. Thunder quirked her lips into a wry smile, light flashing on her gold lip ring. 

3

2

1

"Begin!" Goodwitch's voice rang throughout the classroom and the two immediately launched into combat. 

It was obvious from the way that she carried herself that Thunder was her team's tank. Her first combative move was to lunge forward with the pointed end with her spear and quickly spin it around so the rocks dangling from the other end flared out and struck her opponent. Lilac's staff took a majority of the force from the hit, but she was still sent reeling back a few paces. To counter, she spun her staff in front of her, twisting and activating the wind Dust. A large gust blew from Lance Geranium's frame and hit Thunder at full blast. But instead of being swept away, she widened her stance and planted her feet firmly. A cloud of dirt billowed around her, creating a thick veil that obscured her vision. Suddenly it cleared to reveal the white rabbit Faunus leaping into the air with her staff poised to strike. At the last second Thunder dove for the floor and somersaulted out of the way of the strike. 

Now that she was close enough, Lilac could clearly take in all of the details of her opponent. Thunder had a tattoo of a storm cloud on her navel, partially hidden by her navy blue jacket and white crop top style hoodie. Wrapped around her shins and her wrists were what seemed like simple armor but up close she could see that they were actually weights. That was what had kept her from flying off in the wind storm. Lilac did a quick hop, holding Lance Geranium in front of her as she back peddled. Thunder had recovered from her dodge lightning quick and swung her spear once more. The rocks slammed against the floor, creating a small dent in the surface. 

_That could have been me!_ Lilac swallowed harshly. She had to remain focused on the fight. She punched the end of her staff into the ground, pushing herself off of the ground and riding the momentum into a swift kick which Thunder barely managed to avoid. She managed to move into a ducking position, avoiding a quick stab from the spear. She wasn't, however, able to avoid the barrage of rocks that rained down on her. Lilac let out a grunt of pain, pushing herself onto her hands and vaulting back to her feet. 

Thunder wasn't a Grimm. She wasn't a rampaging Boarbatusk or a Beowolf. There was no trick to catching her off guard, and if there was one then Lilac could not find it for the life of her. Lilac sneaked a quick glance at her Scroll. Her aura was beginning to dip into dangerous territory. Time for defense. Well, more defense. Thunder used the tip of her spear to pole vault towards the Faunus. "Never miss leg day." She muttered. With that she jumped, spear keeping her steady, and slammed feet first back down. The weights on her shins paired with the hellish combination of her semblance and her sheer leg muscle shook the area like an earthquake. Those paying close enough attention could see the hair line cracks forming in the floor. Lilac twisted her staff, switching from wind to lightning. One large arc sent crackling electricity towards the Haven student. 

A direct hit. However, not even a direct shock to her system could keep her down for long. Tanks were known for their sheer amount of aura, which made it easier for them to launch themselves into battle with abandon. Wood clashed against wood as Lilac countered a strike, the two pushing with all of their might to press the other back and possibly disarm them. "You regretting telling me not to take it easy?" Thunder heckled.

"Not one bit." A quiet click, so quiet you might not be able to hear it over the crowd's roaring if you weren't listening, hit Thunder's ears. In a flash the Faunus pushed back and away and took a running start. This built up the momentum it took to get her rolling along in her new Heelys. As she whizzed past, she held her staff out horizontally from her body, clothes lining Thunder in the process. But like after every other hit, she was back on her feet and charging once more.

Wheeled shoes only did so much to aid in evasive maneuvers. Plus she hadn't quite mastered the whole balance portion of her new accessory, which made her an easier target for the broad attacks. Lilac bunny hopped over the crack in the floor, pulled back her arm for another swing. Thunder was quicker than she was. The Haven student threw out one of her incredibly toned legs, causing the purple haired girl to stumbled. Before she hit the ground Thunder countered with a quick swing of her own weapon. Rock side first. Lilac was flung across the arena from the force of the sneak attack.

The bell sounded and the lights went up. Lilac looked up to see her own aura had dipped into critical territory from that final hit alone. But that wasn't all. A faint dripping sound could be heard. In fact, it was the only sound. The crowd has shockingly gone completely silent. That was uncommon for sparring class. There was a clatter as Thunder's weapon hit the floor and she rushed over. "Holy shit, holy shit! I did _NOT_ mean to hit you that hard! You okay?" She extended a hand, which Lilac gingerly took. "I'm fine. A little dazed, but fine." She wiped the sweat from her face, feeling grossly moist after such a rigorous fight. As she pulled her hand away and looked down at it, she realized it wasn't sweat. Her pristine white glove was stained a terribly dark red. Blood red. Thunder had hit her hard enough to make her bleed. It was just her nose...but she had never had a bloody nose before.

"Miss Storm." Glynda's stern voice interrupted the pair. "That sort of strength would serve you well against the Creatures of Grimm. In the tournament however-"

"It won't happen again, ma'am!" It was strange to see her switch from confident and strong to meek and afraid of punishment. Lilac wondered if she had ever done this at her own school, and what they did to students there that made her fear repercussions. "No need to worry." Lilac placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You did a really good job. I just hope we don't face off in the tournament!"

"If you would be so kind as to escort Miss Fiducia to the infirmary?" Thunder nodded numbly. Lilac's team joined them soon after. "I have to admit," Wisteria started, "those hits were phenomenal. Even if they did break our defense's nose." Lilac shoulder checked her friend. Rho snickered. "Team LTNG... you all go that hard, or just you?"

"God I hope it's just her!" Freesia hollered. Rho gave her a quiet "Freesia, keep your voice down." as they passed a full classroom. The five of them spoke softly all the way across the campus to the infirmary. Lilac's nose had long since stopped bleeding, but they still needed to go and get checked up. The entire way there, Lilac kept looking at her hands. Specifically the blood splatter on her glove. Wisteria assured her it would come out with bleach. That wasn't her concern. 

In a real fight, it would have ended worse. There wouldn't have been a bell and a teacher to intervene. A real Grimm would not have stopped at a bloody nose. She could have lost so much more than a sparring match. For the first time, she took in her teammates and realized that carelessness could end with her losing her friends or her family. And for the first time, she noticed the jagged scar across Rho's lip.

A few weeks passed and everything maintained a flow of normality. There were no other injuries from sparring and Team RWBY was in the early stages of planning a dance. Or so they had heard. The entire team seemed rather distracted by other matters as of late, especially Blake Belladonna.  Lilac had to say she knew the feeling. Ever since her fight against Team LTNG's tank, she had felt distracted. Almost as if her spirit was weighed down by the crushing realization that she and the people she cared for could be hurt. In a world where everyone's body produced a natural shield and powers that were meant to prevent that, it seemed like an alien concept. But here she was catching herself staring at Rho's scar from across their dorm. 

The scar itself was fairly small. If you weren't spending copious amounts of time looking at his face you probably would never notice it. Despite it's size, it looked crooked and deep. Scars in that location usually did. More often than not a scar on your face meant something terrible happened. That something or someone had attacked you. Lilac found herself more and more eager to know. 

"I have a question." It was an early Friday morning. Freesia and Wisteria had occupied the bathroom and left Lilac and Rho to wait awkwardly half ready until they were done with their extensive hair and makeup routines. "No." True to his 2edgy4u personality, even first thing in the morning. "It's not that kind of question." He didn't respond, giving Lilac an opening to pose her query. "It's about your lip. M-More specifically the scar on it!" She suddenly felt herself becoming flustered. There was no logical reason for her to feel flustered, it wasn't like she was asking about his lips because she wanted to like, kiss them or anything. But Rho still raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together like she had. 

"Sorry. That was rude of me to pry..." She fidgeted her fingers, appendages twisting together nervously. "No it's...fine. Just usually no one asks 'bout it. Kind of a long story...." Lilac gestured to the bathroom door, indicating that they in fact had plenty of time. Rho sighed. "You know my semblance. No pain. It's pretty sweet in combat and even more sweet when I have a new stunt to try out. That's...kinda what happened?" He leaned back against the headboard and sighed again. 

"I was a reckless kid. Still am. My sister was like... probably the worst enabler. She was a great older sister but she let me do so much dumb shit. She was the one who gave me my first board. Even taught me how to skate and a few tricks. Our parents didn't really like that though. They're florists-" he spits the word out like it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth "-and they never took risks. They hated it when she left for Beacon and I know they hate that I did too. But whatever, who cares about them. The point is they didn't like it when I went out to practice skateboarding. So I would sneak out and go places they wouldn't find me. Usually the other side of town, out by those warehouses and those really shady clubs. There's a lot of discarded scrap metal that made for super stellar ramps." Lilac giggled at his use of "skater lingo". He glared at her, but she knew it was a playful one.

"Anyways. This one day I was out real late. I had been skating all day long and I didn't even realize how late it had gotten. I really didn't want to be on the bad side of town in the dark but I also didn't want to stop. So I did what any stupid kid would do. I tried skating home. Did some tricks The whole shebang, you know? I got up the overpass and I tried to do this really hard trick. The- the nightmare flip. It's just about as bad as it sounds. I don't even know why I thought I could do it in the first place. I....I totally wiped out. I fell. Hit the edge of the overpass and kept going."

"You fell off of the-!" He held a finger to his lips. He wasn't finished. "It didn't hurt to hit the rail. I fell probably 15 feet or so. That hurt a little. That was the weirdest thing for me. I had never felt that kind of pain before. I didn't even realize it until I got up. I had hit my face on one of those metal scraps I was using as a ramp and it cut me. I was bleeding all over the place and I was even crying. You know how scary it is to be on the bad side of town at night all by yourself? And on top of that, you're hurt. Bleeding. You're scared as hell and there's nobody to help you." 

"So what did you do?"

"I walked home. My Dad told me that if I had just stayed home it would have been fine. I doubt it. Rather die a in a glorious skateboarding blaze and be remembered as a legend than never make a sound at all." Lilac found that she was crying once again. Before this year, she had never spent a day outside of safety. She was always with her parents and they had kept her safe. She couldn't even begin to imagine how terrified he must have been. "I'm sorry."

"It's whatever. C'mon, I think they're almost done in there."

* * *

Class ended at exactly 4:00 pm. Everyone seemed excited to get out of class that day. Freesia was currently wrist deep in Wisteria's hair, sectioning it off and braiding it into tight plaits. "So what do you guys wanna do with our free time this weekend?" Rho rolled over in his bed, already deciding his own weekend time. "I'm pretty worn out, actually. Ozpin isn't letting up on training anytime soon. Might as well rest when we can." Wisteria nodded, agreeing with her partner and causing Freesia to yelp as the nodding motion tugged the plait she was working on from her hands.

"Sorry, Free. Maybe we could all just chill here? There's a lot of things we could do at home." Freesia seemed to slouch a bit, both physically and mentally, when she suddenly bolted upright. "Home!" The remaining three members jolted at her sudden acclamation. Rho groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. "....care to clarify?" Wisteria asked.

"We can phone home! Let's hit up the CCT down in Vale! C'mon, it'll be nice to call our families!"

"Hard pass. Good night." Wisteria shot her partner a look but shrugged. "Gotta agree with Rho here. I call my granddads and Warren almost every other day anyways. We'd be happy to go into town with you, though." Freesia turned to her final hope. Her own partner. Lilac's ears twitched nervously. Orange met lavender. One face smiled hopefully and the other...not as hopeful. "Hey, partner."

"Hello, partner. I...I guess I could go. It would be nice to see my parents again." Freesia bounced up and whooped happily. She flipped backwards off the bed, ignoring their neighbors hissing to keep it down. "Lemme change outta my uniform and we can go!" She rushed back to her side of the room and rummaged through her bag for something to wear. "Hey! Finish the braids you started!" Wisteria complaint went ignored. Lilac mimicked her partner and retrieved a new outfit to wear into town as well. "We'll meet you guys in Vale after we're done making calls. Okay?" Wisteria nodded. The last thing she saw as she exited the room was Wisteria dragging Rho out of bed to help her undo the unfinished plaits.

* * *

 

Lilac smoothed out her mint green sweater dress, adjusted the silver cuffs, and fiddled with her hair. "You look fine." Freesia reassured her. Her partner had changed into a pair of white leggings, orange high waisted shorts and a matching top. She had swapped out her regular armor for much lighter shoulder guards but kept her arm and knee guards. The top has an intricate sequined pattern that almost formed a heart, but more abstract. "Your cape is a little crooked, though." She reached over and adjusted the cape roughly. Lilac squeaked loudly. A light pink sash draped over her curvy hips and held her bag of dust discreetly. In case of emergency.

"The Cross Continental Transmit System. Isn't it awesome?!" Freesia cheered happily, still fixing up her partner's outfit. She batted at her hands uselessly. "Before they made it we could have never had the kind of world we have now! A call from Vale to Vacuo in seconds! Not to mention all of the diversity in schools now." She finally ceased her fussing and took her hand. "You ready?"

The Fiducia's were nice people. They were supportive parents who had been with their daughter through every step of her transition and had let her travel across the world to attend a school for warriors, even though they knew that they could lose her if something went wrong.   

So why did the idea of making this call scare her so much?

The elevator up to the call center at the very top of the tower was exhilarating. The only other time they had been this high up before was one their occasional trip up to Ozpin's office. Freesia continued to talk the whole ride. She mostly just rambled about her incredibly large family. "I'm the middle kid, y'know. Couple of my siblings went to Beacon, too. That's probably why Oz let me in. Hopefully a few of the older ones will be home this weekend, I haven't talked to some of them in ages!"

"It will be nice for you to see them again."

"What 'bout you? Who are you the most excited to see?" Lilac shrugged. They would have to see when they got up there. 

They recognized a few of the students from Beacon. Weiss Schnee stood in front of her own screen, holding herself with the same heiress worthy posture that she carried herself with on a day to day basis. Freesia and Lilac continue on to their own booths, side by side. "I'll try to keep it down so I don't bother you." Freesia promised. Lilac forced a laugh and a smile. She wouldn't mind having her call interrupted.

The screen flicked to life and a woman with floppy white ears perched amongst greying hair squinted back at her. "Hi, Mom."

"Lilac! Honey get in here, Lilac is calling!" Her mother's tiny hands play happily with the brooch that affixed her cloak to her body as she waited for her husband to join her. A slight man with professionally style white hair entered the screen. The wrinkles criss crossing his face made him seem stern and harsh. But the second he saw his daughter it immediately faded into an excited expression. "Lilac! So good to see you, my girl!"

"Hi, Papa. How have you two been?" The old man settled into the seat next to his wife with a quiet groan and the creak of old bones. "We've been doing just fine. The house has seemed a bit too quiet since you left, I must say." Her mother pushed her face closer to the screen. "Have.....you....made...any....FRIENDS?" She spoke far too slow and too loud. They had never received many CCT calls that weren't related to the company, it was only natural for her aging mother to be confused by the technology she supposed. "Yes, Mama. I've made a few!" She glanced over to the neighboring cubicle, where Freesia was loudly laughing at something on of her brothers had said. "I really love my team. They're the best friends I've ever had." If Rho was here, he would have told her how sappy that was.

"Have you met any nice Faunus? Don't tell me you're the only one." At the mention of other Faunus her father's expression seemed to harden again. What could he possibly be upset about? The lack of Faunus at Beacon? Or the fact that more parents had let their children go into a world that could hate them for their animal traits. "No no. There are a few others. An arctic fox named Odette, a few deer. There's a very nice bunny Faunus a year above me! Her name is Velvet Scarletina!" Her parents shared a look of approval. Another Faunus of the same type was usually very good for young Faunus. They could either be a role model, or an example of how not to live your life. Plus, you could go to them for advice.

"You haven't gotten into any trouble, have you?"

"No no! Not at all! It's very safe here, I haven't gotten a single scratch!" She purposefully left out the little incident with Thunder. They would freak if they ever knew. She didn't want to risk that. Not now. "I think that's it, so....."

"We love you, honey. It was so nice of you to call! WE would love to see you more often. Feel free to give us a call anytime!" 

"I will. Bye." The call disconnected and Lilac ran her hands through her hair. It hadn't been as bad as she had thought. That was a relief.

* * *

Wisteria adjusted the flowers that she had weaved into her hair. She had stationed herself outside of the CCT, waiting for Freesia and Lilac to exit. Rho had gone off on his own as well, leaving her all on her own. She tugged her light red over coat closer. It felt strange to be by herself in the big city, even if she had lived in the area for a few months now. She fiddled with the cherry shaped necklace charm as she watched a hologram of General Ironwood present the new Atlesian Paladins. They were interesting, and she knew they would help save more lives in the field. But they hadn't had a war since the Great War. Her Grandpa Wash had told her how gruesome some of those battles had been. The Atlesian soldiers gave them a leg up against the creatures of Grimm.

Wisteria checked her Scroll again. Let out a sigh. She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped nearly ten feet into the air. She had kept her combat skirt on with her new outfit in case this sort of situation arose. Instead of a possible attacker she was met by a pale faced girl with thin, silvery hair. Well, she shouldn't rule her out as an attacker just because she was a teenager. "Oh! Didn't mean to scare you." Her tone didn't seem sincere in the slightest. "My teammate and I are looking for an armory. There isn't one down at the student dorms at Beacon." Wisteria was shell shocked for a moment. She didn't see another person in sight and honestly she was getting flashbacks to the docks a few weeks ago.

"You do live here, don't you? You don't look like and Atlas or Haven student. Although Vacuo I could see...." Wisteria's hair fell into her face to hide the glare her eyes were laser beaming into this girl's black cloak covered form. "No no. I live here. Sorry, I just don't see your partner. Are they as pale as you or are they even more so that they're completely invisible?" It wasn't her best comeback and she wasn't proud of it in the slightest. But the slightly miffed expression on her face was worth it. The expression was followed by a slightly more frantic one as she scanned the area. Wisteria saw her mutter something under her breath. Her teammate had the nasty habit of wandering off, too.

"Hey! Hey there she is!" The shout was followed by the hurried tap of feet on pavement and Wisteria grounded herself. Seconds later Freesia launched herself into her teammate with a flying hug. The pale girl staggered back a few paces to avoid being hit by anymore flying students. "Wisty! We just had the BEST time in the CCT!" Her fun sized leader's legs dangled as she hung off her her shoulders. "Where's Rho? We were supposed t' go grab something to eat afterwards!" Freesia still hadn't seemed to notice the intimidatingly cold girl in front of them, or the fact that Lilac had also been left behind when she had rushed to meet her. The pale girl cleared her throat, catching both of their attention. 

"Do either of you know where to find a local armory?" She was growing impatient. She pursed her lips and sighed. "And have you seen a student with a long red ponytail? Bandage over her nose? She's always walking away from me....." Oh my god. Oh my god, she was pouting. If this was an anime, home girl would be a tsundere. "No, sorry. Haven't seen her." Freesia finally pried herself off of Wisteria, straightening out her shorts and armor. "But I do know where you can find one of the best armories in town!"

Lilac wasn't very fast. When Freesia blasted off to join Wisteria, she had been left behind an out of breath mess. She took her time joining the others. The city square was alive with people doing all kinds of interesting things. In the crowd she recognized a telltale shock of pink hair covered with that signature beanie. "Rho!" The boy turned to her and gave probably the most sincere smile she had ever seen him give. They met each other halfway. "Whoa, you put yourself together nicely." He had exchanged his traditional pink shirt and vest combo for a black button up, a slightly nicer looking pink vest. Like the kind you'd wear with a suit. He still, however, wore a fading ratty hoodie and his normal converse. 

"Mm. You too. You lost Freesia?"

"Yeah. She-"

"Ran away from you?"  
"-ran away from me." Lilac giggled. They knew their leader well. "We should go find her. It's only a matter of time before she gets into a fight or something." Lilac nodded. She instinctively took his hand as they started walking. To her surprise, he didn't take it away. They walked and chatted for a while, seeing neither hide nor hair of their energetic leader or Wisteria. "Maybe they went ahead to the cafe without us? We should head there, too, then." Rho suggested. 

The pair was not at the cafe. But seeing as they were already there, they decided to just wait it out. They had just placed their orders when a strange pair approached them. Not their strange pair, mind you. Neither of them had ever seen these people before. A tall, lanky boy wearing what looked like climbing gear and a girl with shoulder length blonde hair with a sleek feather poking out from behind her ear. The girl had her arms wrapped around the boy's and she kept glancing up at the boy lovingly. Beneath flaxen hair he had steely eyes that seemed to scour their very souls. And, of course, there were those unignorable horns. 

"Pardon our interruption. But my dear Silver couldn't help but notice your lovely...." He glanced up to her ears and then flitted back down to her face. "Cape. The color really compliments your skin tone." The girl, Silver, covered her hand with a gloved hand and laughed into it. "You really do look stunning. Those ears really add to the aesthetic~." Rho looked over to Lilac. Gauged her reaction. If it was in any way a negative one, he would stand up and throw hands right here in the middle of this cafe. But she didn't seem affected by the comment so he let himself relax. A little. 

"Yes, they rather do. I'm sure it must be hard to be a Faunus in Vale. You know, there's a meeting tonight on the other side of town. We would be honored if you were to attend."

"We're busy." Rho hissed. Lilac shot him a look. "Ah. Well, if necessary, you could bring your....friend...along. We would really love to have you there, however. Here, I'll get you the address." He reached into the fanny pack strapped to his hip and pulled out a small slip of paper. "Us Faunus have to stick together these days. After that murder and all."

"What murder?" Rho and Lilac asked at the same time. "Oh! You haven't heard? The Faunus shop keep, Tukson or somethin'. Murdered in his own store in cold blood. They think it was a hate crime cause he was Faunus an' all." Silver's tone was so nonchalant, even while going into the gory details. Lilac physically turned white at the thought of it all. Rho reached for her hand and grasped it under the table. "Like I said. Trying times. We would love to see you." He shook her free hand. "Silver, let's go. Your horrible sister is probably livid that we aren't home by now."

The two of them sat in silence after the pair left. "Hey." Rho's voice pulled Lilac out of her stupor. "You know that we would fight tooth and nail before someone hurt you. But....if you wanna go to that meeting to see what they're offering, by all means."

"You mean it?"

"Every word."

It took forever for the other two to finally arrive. When they did, the four of them had a nice discussion over tea and cake.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1,111 words of this chapter is pure combat.... not sure how I swung that
> 
> thank you for reading! if you have any ocs that you want to see in the story, feel free to comment and tell me all about them i love ocs


	14. The gang crashes an underground terrorist ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilac attends a meeting. It's not as boring as it sounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cries into my pillow* I haven't updated this in forever and i feel BAD....whats up with that Always Sunny ass title tho???
> 
> follow me on tumblr if you want infrequent art updates of the teams and really sad posts about my life 
> 
> ask-cosplayukraine-please@tumblr.com
> 
> also be sure to check out some of my other mediocre stories on this site! If you haven't, maybe give Et Flori a read! Or if you're into poorly represented gang life and 6k of me trying to be funny, check out You might want to reconsider which features the FAHC and me screaming!

Finding each other had only been half of it. Agreeing on what to do after they had gotten their coffee and taken a moment to relay their tales to the rest of the team ended up being the most taxing of all. "She actually said that to your face? Typical Atlas kids..." 

"I hardly doubt she was being the worst on purpose. But I digress. We'll probably never even see her or her possibly nonexistent team ever again. Seriously, the chances of going up against them in the Tournament are slim." Wisteria sipped her coffee with a smirk. "And if we do take them on, we'll kick their pretentious asses." The other three raised their own glasses with confidence. "How were your families?" Freesia's face exploded into a smile and she began describing the call, highlighting the best things her many siblings had told her about life back in their village. 

"My brother said his bakery is _really_   busy this month! If he gets around to it, he said he would send us some treats to try! And my sisters are gonna try and make it to see us during the Vytal Tournament! Although, I'm not sure how many of them are coming." 

"Freesia, how many siblings do you have, exactly?" Rho asked. The blonde responded through a large mouthful of croissant, the words coming out muffled and unintelligent. "Ah, I see. Aaanyways, Lilac. What about you?"

Her ears twitched. "Oh. Well, my parents seemed happy to see me. I don't know... they don't really understand the technology. They asked a lot of questions and then had to leave before we could catch up. So...." She shrugged and quickly sipped her tea. "On another note, I met the most interesting Faunus boy." 

Wisteria and Freesia let out a collective "Ooooooh!" 

"Don't do that." Rho stated flatly. Lilac flushed "I-I don't mean it like that! Him and his girlfriend or something gave me a compliment on my cape and then handed me this." She fished the slip from her pouch and placed it on the table. "It's just an address. He said there was a meeting for Faunus to talk about the murder that happened a few blocks down."

"Murder?" Wisteria's voice shook. "What murder?" 

"Guy who ran Tukson's Books." Rho chimed in. "They found him dead in his store and the cops think it might have been a hate crime." Wisteria covered her mouth and shook her head slowly. "That's so awful."

"I thought Vale would be free of that sort of thing." Freesia muttered. Her face showed a clear disgust. Judging by their first meeting, Lilac assumed that Freesia came from a town with lots of Faunus and was taught that behavior like the one the boys had been displaying was not to be tolerated. Now it seemed that only the latter was true. Her parents had been right in worrying about her straying so far from home, but she was already here. All she could do is hope that her team and the school kept her safe. She also hoped her parents never caught wind of the murder. 

"Well, Li. If you're up for it, we could totally attend the meeting tonight. I think I know where to find that address." Rho picked up the paper and examined it. "Oh yeah. I know this place." His lip quirked into a weird grimace. "I don't think I would be to comfortable going back, though." His fingers absently reached up and brushed across his face and Lilac knew why he wasn't too keen on going back. This warehouse was near where he had gotten his scar. 

"That's okay. I don't mind going alone."

"Don't be silly. If it's so bad that even Rho doesn't want to go there, there is no way we're letting you go alone." Freesia tapped her finger to her chin. "But they might not even allow humans in. What do we do about that?"

A small smile crossed Lilac's lips. "Wisteria, how fast do you think you can sew something?" Soon a matching smile spread to the other girl. "Depends. What do you need?"

* * *

"This is such a bad idea." Rho called from his bed. The three girls were gathered in the center of the room, working to put the final details on Wisteria's newest creation. "Then you should have said something before we finished it." She gave a little twirl, skirt and hair flaring out. "How does it look?" Freesia wrapped her fingers around the thin material of Wisteria's belt and gave it a rough tug. Despite the force, it stayed put. "Flip the switch?" 

The faintest whir filled the air as the mechanical tail attached to the belt stirred to life and wagged happily. "Perfect. Hopefully the crowd will be loud enough to hide the mechanical parts." Lilac noted. "But other than that, it looks perfect!"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rho chimed in. "I mean, there's no telling how wrong this could go."

"We'll be fine. I'm sure it'll be like....like a book club. Nothing fancy." Rho shrugged and sunk back into the duvet. "Your funeral." 

"If it's our funeral, that makes you the undertaker. You still have to take us there." 

It was well after dark by the time they reached the warehouse. Two large men in the telltale White Fang uniforms stood at the front, handing similar masks out to the Faunus that passed. "Oh. What a nice looking book club." His smart remark was met with a hard punch on the arm. Beside him Lilac began to quiver. She felt foolish. Sure, she couldn't have known the White Fang were behind the meeting. She had no idea that they even did recruitments anymore, let alone in Vale. But now that they were face to face with the organization that's mere name made business harder on her family in Atlas, the one that had taken Rho's sister away from him...it scared her. The Faunus filing into the warehouse had no idea, did they? Would they join a group that advocated for violence against humans if it meant they were treated like the people they deserved to be?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that  _yes,_ they would. If she hadn't had such a cushy life back in her manor, she supposed she would too. right now, however, she did not want to be anywhere near here. "Lilac? Are you okay?"

"We have to leave." She swiveled on her heel and began to push her friends back the way they had come. "We have to go home, I changed my mind." She was shaking violently now. Rho grabbed her arms to hold her steady. "You need to calm down. You're going to cause a scene-"

"Please can we just go?!" Her voice raised involuntarily. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes. "Lilac-" Wisteria placed her hand on top of Rho's. "Let's just go back to the school, okay?" The three of them exchanged looks. Rho let out a sigh and tightened his grip on her arm. His jaw locked at the sight of tears slipping down her cheeks. "Oka-"

"Hey!" A gruff yell split through the air. One of the guards stalked over to them with a menacing scowl plastered on his face. "Is he harassing you two?" Lilac's tears seemed to dry in the ducts and her spine straightened. Wisteria let out a little choked noise. "Typical human." He placed his large meaty hands on their shoulders, pulling them in close. "Come with me, girls. I'll take you somewhere where his kind can't bother you." Without another word he directed them away from the safety of their teammate and into the warehouse, handing them matching Grimm masks as they entered. Lilac managed to shoot one last helpless glance to Rho before the doors slammed shut and engulfed them in darkness.

"New recruits keep to the right!" A voice boomed. Lilac hunched closer to Wisteria. "Don't panic." she whispered. "Do you have your weapon?" She nodded. She had left her staff, but had packed her bag with plenty of dust, both powder and crystal. "You?" 

"Always wearing it." They shuffled into the crowd with the other newbies, Lilac's stomach turning slightly at the sight of their flag. Three bloody claws raked over a snarling wolf head. "Thank you all for coming. For those of you that are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we've fought for for so long!"

"Who do you think it is?" A hush fell over the crowd as heavy footsteps filled the large warehouse. A sharply dressed man wielding a cane and a evil smirk. Lilac muffled a gasp. Anyone who had been watching the Vale News for the past month would know that face. The notorious Roman Torchwick. 

"Thank you, thank you! Please hold your applause!"

"What's a human doing here?!" A deer Faunus from the front called. "I'm glad you asked,  _deerie._ Now I'll be the first to admit that humans are the  _worst-"_  He continued to pace and ramble. The crowd seemed apprehensive at first, but the more he spoke the more it seemed to sway. "Don't they know who he is?" The crowd let out a cheer as he dissed the government and schools. "I don't think they care." 

"And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around...no offense to any rodents in the room." With a snap of his fingers, the sheet behind him dropped away to reveal a larger than life mecha, just like the model she had seen in passing near the CCT earlier that day but with the White Fang logo painted on the armor. A gasp washed over the crowd. 

"This right here is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world! And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they hit the shelves!" Applause grew and grew until it covered his words completely. "We should go..." They turned to leave but the crowd surged forward, pushing them closer and closer to the front. "No no no!" They were so close now they could hear the small talk exchanged between Roman, the recruits, and the burly man they assumed to be a high ranking officer. "We have to get out of here. What do we do?" 

"Don't panic, Lilac. We  _will_ get out of here."  _I just don't know how yet._ She thought. Luckily, fate seemed to be on their side. The sound of gunfire, a shower of sparks, and then nothing but pure darkness.

It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Thank Dust for that sweet, Faunus night vision. Most of the crowd was panicking. Were they being attacked? Was it the police? The military? Huntsmen? Among the commotion she could see two figures rushing through the crowd and out the upper levels window. Before anyone can react the Atlesian Paladin hummed to life and leapt out after them. Moonlight flooded the warehouse. Wisteria shielded her eyes, squinting. "Up there. Is that-?'

Lilac turned her attention to the stage. Sure enough, three figures stood. One of them had large, curved rams horns protruding from his head. "That's him! The one who told me to come!" 

"That's Dillon! Freesia and I met him at the docks a few weeks ago. He said he wasn't here for the festival....this must be what he  _really_ came for." She clenched her fists. It shouldn't upset her. So what if he was a crime boss? So far, nothing he had done had personally affected her. But the rage that boiled inside her wasn't for her. It was for all of these Faunus gathering here for justice. It was for the innocent people who would and had been hurt by his actions. "He must be the employer Roman was talking about."

"Let's get him." Before Lilac could protest Wisteria was pushing her way through the crowd towards him. A stray hand bumped her belt, activating the tail. All Lilac could do was trail helpless behind her. 

"We need to get out of here. We have our information and our evidence, Dillon. This place is gonna get lit up any second now and if the VPD catches us here-" 

"Blanche, my dear. It will all be just fine." 

"HEY! HORN HEAD!" Droopy eyes lifted to face the angry girl, a lazy smile spreading across his cheeks. "Your words are angry, but your tail says otherwise. Are you truly that happy to see us?" Wisteria growled, tearing away the mechanism like paper. Those who were still watching gasped. Another human had infiltrated their meeting, did that mean there was truly no safe place for Faunus? "Don't recognize me, Dillon? That's your mistake." 

"Wisteria!" Lilac hauled herself up onto the stage as well. "Ah, little rabbit girl. So glad to see you made it." His eyes narrowed, going from droopy to sinister in an instant. He snapped his fingers and his goons flanked him. Silver pushed aside the vast ruffled mass of skirt and pulled out a fair sized pistol. "Come. We're done here." 

"The Hell you are!" Wisteria charged, only to be knocked back by a rough kick. "Silver, get the boss out of here. I'll deal with Stiletto Sue over here." Wisteria's lips curled into a sneer at the unoriginal nickname bestowed upon her. Silver tugged the ram Faunus closer and they began to disappear into the darkness. Wisteria lunged forward, only to be blocked by Blanche. She lunged the other way, same result. Blanche reached behind her, pulling out two short staffs with long pointed blades at one end and curved deer horn knives at the other. "You should have fled with the others." She slashed at the two of them, catching the ends of Lilac's hair and severing it. 

"Lilac! Dust!" Trembling hands retrieved a large green crystal from her fanny pack. "Now!" In an instant she hurled it at the ground, shattering it into pieces. Wisteria channeled her semblance and turned the particles into a ginormous funnel, picking up every ounce of dust she could to create a screen between them and their attacker. When the dust cleared her battle skirt had whirred to life, two of the blades ejected and in her hands. The rabbit Faunus had fled and was no where in sight. 

Blanche clicked her weapons together into one staff and held it over her head, and twirled closer. Wisteria countered the slashes with her sword, swiping at her exposed abdomen with the other. The sound of metal against metal and a small shower of sparks filled the air. "Fool. Don't you know that every aspect of your outfit should be for protection." While Wisteria was distracted by the horrors of a full metal corset against your skin, Blanche swung again. Both deer horn knives raked across her body, knocking her back a few paces. 

"That's what the skirt's for." Her fingers danced over the buttons, speed picking up before ejecting the remaining blades. Blanche spun her weapon rapidly, deflecting a few of the projectiles. Without hesitation, Wisteria rushed at her, hoping to slip past her with the blades. No such luck. The other woman hit with a kick to the jaw and another to the stomach. Wisteria teetered in her heels, failing to maintain her balance. She threw her hands out, a gust of wind billowing beneath her and blowing her back towards Blanche. She threw a punch only to be blocked. A kick. The same result.

"You are foolish if you think you can beat me. You should have just turned tail and ran when you had the chance."

"Not in a million years." Her hands flew up to Blanche's face, sharp nails holding it in place as she delivered a crushing headbutt. Both girls stumbled away from each other, Blanche reeling. "Li, NOW!" A sudden flash of light purple appeared out of the corner of her eye. Before she can react the rabbit Faunus hurled several vials at her feet. She slipped over the first, rolling over it and onto the ground, crushing the remainder with her weight. A huge explosion tossed her into the air where the two watched her body crackle with dark blue energy. The power alone had depleted what remained of her aura, giving the two a chance to flee. 

* * *

 

Once they returned home they spilled the entire night to the rest of the team. "There's no doubt, he was definitely working with the White Fang." 

Rho's jaw clenched. "I knew I shouldn't have let you two go. I should have fought him, I should have-"

"It's not your fault. We were fine up until then, anyways. Besides, it's a good lesson for all us. We can't trust everyone we meet. We never know who they could be." The others nodded in agreement. From now on, they would be much more careful.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways the new season of rwby is killing me


End file.
